"She’s just my little buddy, we do everything together, we go on dates; she likes everything I do except for tennis." - Serena Williams on daughter Olympia
Serena Williams will be playing in her final professional tournament at the 2022 US Open, having announced her retirement plans in a Vogue magazine article ahead of the commencement of the summer swing.
The decision has drawn an array of reactions from the tennis world. However, if Serena Williams' limited comments since the announcement are anything to go by, the American has arrived at the decision after thorough discussions with not only her team but others close to her as well.
Speaking at a recent media interaction for Today, Williams said having a child can bring about a lot of changes in one's life and that the same can be hard.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion, however, was quick to add that Olympia fit her into her life quite well — adding that they did a lot of things together and had a lot of fun doing them.
"If you have a baby, they have to fit in your life, you shouldn’t change your life. And so that’s hard," Serena Williams said. "It’s super hard because there’s so many things that change but even though those changes happen, they still have to fit in your life. You don’t want to just lose who you are.
"So for me, that’s kind of how it is like, she fits in my life," she continued. "We have a lot of fun. She’s just my little buddy. You know we do everything together, we go on dates. And it’s so cool because she likes everything I do except for tennis.."
Youngest. Majority owner status. Go Olympia twitter.com/alexisohanian/…
"We don't talk about tennis much" - Serena Williams on discussing retirement with sister Venus
Serena Williams said while she and sister Venus Williams rarely talk about tennis, they have "had a few conversations about it." She went on to add that having played tennis all her life, she was expecting her transition into something new to be "emotional".
"We don't talk about tennis much, but we have had a few conversations," Serena said.
"This whole journey is gonna be emotional," she continued. "I love what I do, there’s nothing about me not loving my job. I love it. I’ve been playing it my whole entire life. It’s very emotional to evolve into something new."
Venus, meanwhile, said she expected her sister to go about her business in her final tournament as well with the hunger to win. The seven-time Major winner also said that Serena still had the drive to win.
"It’s still business, she still wants to play, she still wants to win," Venus said during the interview. "When she walks on the court she wants to be focused — so this is the moment now for her to do that, like all the other moments, and then when that moment is over, then the next moment will be here. So that’s what it is."
Serena has played three singles tournaments leading up to the US Open, with her sole win in four matches coming at the Canadian Open against Nuria Parrizas-Diaz.