Serena Williams Jokes That She's Not Done Playing Tennis

Serena Williams, who announced her evolution away from the tennis industry in September 2022, is disclosing more about her life post-tennis. 

While appearing at Disrupt with her Serena Ventures partner Alison Rapaport, she discussed, among other topics, the next chapter of her career, jokingly revealing that she is highly likely to return to the court.  

TechCrunch deputy editor Jordan Crook referred to William's September Vogue Essay, where she mentioned she was "evolving away from tennis." She said, "There is a reason that you use the word evolution and not retirement. I don't like the word retirement either; you never use it."

Williams maintained that she was not retired, leading the deputy editor to declare that she never wanted the tennis icon to retire from anything. Crook then said, "But it sounded like you were on the fence at the U.S. Open. I know you haven't thought about it much in the last four weeks being so busy, but what are the chances that we get to see you play again?"

She jokingly added that she would cry while asking before the legendary tennis player said, "The chances are very high. You come to my house; I got a court."  This prompted the women to burst into laughter and viewers to applaud. Crook then pointed out that there were a thousand witnesses implying that she would hold Serena to her promise.

The women had some more laughs before the TechCrunch staffer mentioned, "I once saw a tweet that was like how many amateur men think they could beat Serena Williams in a game of tennis, and it was like 84%." Williams said, "Wow," in surprise, after which Crook wondered aloud if she could say something to "those dudes."

The sportswoman chuckled and asked for clarification of what category of the amateur was in question. Even so, she was ready to take them all down anytime, with Crook being welcome to watch.

Williams joking about her chances of returning to the court will no doubt be a delight to fans, especially since she once hinted about the possibility of "unretiring" during a chat with Jimmy Fallon.

While expressing her relief on "The Tonight Show" upon announcing her leave from tennis, The Blast noted that she spoke on the chances of her changing her mind. Fallon wondered, "There's no chance of you pulling a Tom Brady and saying, 'Maybe I'm evolving to coming back.'"

The 41-year-old pointed out while laughing that NFL star Brady started an "amazing trend" before shedding more light on her future in the sports industry. She believed retirement was "something that's super-earned," which people worked very hard for. However, she felt like that was the case for her.

Williams said, "I just feel like I'm at an age where I definitely have a lot more to give; there's a lot more I want to do." She added, "And so, I'm not going to be relaxing, there is so much more for me, and I feel it's more like an evolution of Serena."

The icon further confessed that there were many things she had wanted to do for years, and given her evolution, she could now "try to enjoy those things," one of which could be providing a sibling for her daughter.

There seemed to be more explanation behind Williams' retirement as she opened up about the real reason that prompted her decision in an interview with Bradley Cooper for the A+E Networks and the History Talks for the History Channel. 

The Blast reported that she said she "just needed to stop" before noting that she always mentioned her plans to step down when playing well and triumphing over great players.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion added that it was mainly about what she wanted to do spiritually and spending time with her family: her husband, Alexis Ohanian, and her daughter Olympia.

She further spoke about her challenges and how seriously she took her parenting duties. Apparently, she lost a lot of matches after birthing her daughter, as it was difficult to be on the court. Nevertheless, she was open to returning to court even though she felt it was time to do something different and work on other things.