End of an Era

Today, Serena Williams made me feel very old.  While she didn't actually use the word "retirement," she all but announced that's exactly what she'll be doing after the US Open.  It wasn't a complete surprise, and it's something that's felt inevitable for a while.  But still.  Another athlete around my age whose entire career I've spent watching calling it a career.

She's not the first.  Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt are long retired.  Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are already in the Hall of Fame.  Albert Pujols will be hanging it up at the end of the season.  Allyson Felix just ran in her final World Championships and her final competitive race is next month.  Tiger Woods barely plays anymore.  And Roger Federer isn't too far behind Serena.  But still.  (Meanwhile, the ageless Tom Brady keeps chugging along.)

I give Serena a lot of credit for doing it on her own terms, too.  She doesn't want a long, drawn out goodbye.  Of course, she'll end up getting a tribute anyway, but she deserves it.  And it's fitting that it'll come at the US Open, her favorite Grand Slam and the site of her first Grand Slam title in 1999.

If she doesn't win the US Open, she'll finish with 23 career Grand Slam titles, one shy of Margaret Court's record.  When she got to 23 five years ago at the Australian Open, it seemed like it was only a matter of time until she tied and eventually broke the record.  What we didn't know at the time was that she won that 23rd Grand Slam while pregnant with her daughter, Olympia, which makes that Australian Open win all the more impressive.

You know something though?  I don't think she cares about that record.  At one time, when she was dominating the women's game, she did.  But that's not the case anymore.  It's clear that her focus now is on her family, which she would like to grow while she still can (she said that Olympia's been asking when she's gonna become a big sister).  And, whether she has 23 or 24 Grand Slam titles really doesn't matter.  Her legacy as one of the greatest women's players of all-time has been secure for a while.

Consider everything she's accomplished.  She doesn't just have 23 Grand Slam singles titles, she also has 14 in doubles.  Then there are the four Olympic gold medals (one in singles, three in doubles).  And, perhaps most impressively, the two Serena Slams.  Twelve years apart!

It's been five years since that 2017 Australian Open victory, after which she took an entire year off to become a mom.  She hasn't won a Grand Slam since having Olympia, but she made the final at Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back in both 2018 and 2019.  She also reached the back-to-back Grand Slam semifinals at the 2020 US Open and 2021 Australian Open.  Even into her late 30s, well past her dominant prime, she was making Grand Slam finals.  So what if she didn't win one to equal the record?

Consider the number of injuries she's overcome during her career, too.  How many times did her ranking drop because of injuries, only for her to make a final or win a title as an unseeded player?  Which only showed how great she was.  Even when not at her best, she was still better than everyone else.  And, when she was at her best, we saw the result.  Sheer dominance!

When Venus burst onto the scene in the late 90s, Richard Williams proclaimed that Serena was even better.  It was a brash statement.  But, as it turns out, he was right!  Serena wasn't just the greatest player of her generation, she's one of the greatest of all-time.  I'd put her fourth behind Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf, and ahead of Billie Jean King.  Her impact goes far beyond that, though.

Sure, Serena Williams is known first and foremost as a dominant tennis player, but she's so much more.  She's an entrepreneur, a businesswoman, a spokesperson.  She's posed in numerous magazines and even acted.  Simply put, she's an icon.  She didn't play a tennis match after losing in the first round at Wimbledon last year and was still the second-highest-earning female athlete of 2021.  

That's perhaps her greatest legacy.  For all her success on the tennis court, it's just a small part of the Serena Williams story.  With her family and all her businesses, she'll stay plenty busy.  Which is why she's stepping away now.  She's set for life.  Tennis won't be a part of that life forever, and she wants to get on with the post-tennis part.  And she's at piece with it.  There's still the desire, but it's not the same desire she once had for tennis.

There's something beautiful about the way she's ending it, too.  Serena's going out on her own terms.  I'm sure she'd love it if she could go out still at the top of her game, and tying the record in her final tournament, then riding off into the sunset would sure be a poetic finish.  But, regardless of when her US Open ends, Serena will walk off the court a champion.  Hopefully she has one last long run in her.  Whether she does or doesn't, though, it doesn't matter!

Ending it now is her choice.  Could she keep playing a little while longer?  Perhaps.  But it's also possible she could suffer the same fate as Roger Federer, who's been beset by injuries.  He hopes to come back and end on his own terms, but, unfortunately, that may not be possible.  With Serena, that won't happen.  She's worked so hard to come back that she's able to walk out on her own.  And hanging it up is entirely her decision.

We've already gotten a glimpse of what the post-Serena WTA Tour will look like.  She's played so sporadically over the past few years that tournaments won't look dramatically different without her.  But the 2022 US Open will still mark the end of an era.  And what an era it's been!  Serena Williams isn't just the greatest women's tennis player of her generation, she's one of the greatest athletes period.  At least we'll get to enjoy watching her play one final time before she, as she said, "evolves" away from tennis.