"Every tennis player thinks about the R-word as soon as they hit 5 years, but I’m living for the day" - Serena Williams on retirement
Serena Williams has had a long and illustrious career spanning more than two decades, but the American has still not lost her zeal and enthusiasm for the sport.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Williams reflected on the demanding nature of the sport. The 23-time Grand Slam champion pointed out that every tennis player thinks about retiring a few years into their professional career as the competition can be really intense. The American highlighted the fact that tennis was a full-time job and left very little scope for anything else.
Williams, however, was quick to point out that she herself was not thinking too far ahead and had no immediate plans of retiring from the sport.
“I think every tennis player thinks about the R-word as soon as they hit five years because tennis is so intense, it’s literally 11 months out of the year,” Williams said. “But I don’t know. I’m living for the day and I always tell people ‘I’m not planning for tomorrow, only in business. And when it comes to tennis, I’m planning just for today.’”
Williams also briefly spoke about Naomi Osaka's heckling incident at Indian Wells. The Japanese was verbally abused by a member of the crowd during her second-round match against Veronika Kudermetova. Clearly rattled by the incident, Osaka went on to lose the match in straight sets.
While addressing the crowd after the match, the four-time Slam champion recalled an incident from 2001 when Serena and Venus Williams were subjected to loud jeers from a hostile Indian Wells crowd.
Touching upon the topic, Williams said she had spent her entire life trying to prevent such incidents from weighing down on her. The American stressed that she had made it a point to come back stronger from such serbacks.
“That was my whole life, was trying to prove people that I was better than that,” Serena Williams said. “And that’s what I’m doing now in a different way. I love proving that athletes can turn and have an amazing career.”
"Need to change that narrative so we don’t have to be overlooked" - Serena Williams on supporting diverse businesses through her venture fund
Serena Williams' venture capital firm Serena Ventures successfully raised $111 million during its inaugural fundraising campaign. Speaking about her motivation to join the field of business and finance, the American said she felt it was about time investors supported diverse businesses and women and people of color, who were often overlooked.
“We need people like me and people like Alison and like our team at Serena Ventures to be writing the big checks, to change that narrative so we don’t have to be overlooked,” Williams said.