Serena Williams announces upcoming retirement from tennis Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:00)
And welcome back to Get Up. We have breaking news, Serena Williams announcing on Instagram this morning that she will soon retire from tennis. Williams, who won her first match in over a year yesterday revealed her plans this morning on her social media accounts, and linking to an article she wrote in September’s edition of Vogue Magazine. Here’s what Serena wrote on Instagram.

Speaker 1: (00:24)
Vogue, September issue cover. There comes a time in life when we have to decide to move in a different direction. That time is always hard when you love something so much. My goodness do I enjoy tennis, but now the countdown has begun. I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals, and finally discovering a different but just exciting Serena. I’m going to relish these next few weeks. U.S. Open begins at the end of the month.

Speaker 1: (00:53)
We are joined right now by ESPN tennis analyst and of course tennis great herself, Pam Shriver on the phone. Pam, thanks so much with last minute for joining us here. And just to get your reaction to this news, is there surprise at all?

Pam Shriver: (01:06)
Not really a surprise. I feel like the year off between Wimbledon 2021 where she injured a hamstring, the loss to Harmony Tan little over a month ago. And I feel like it was a very conscious decision to make this push towards the U.S. Open. I think in the year off she realized she wasn’t in it long term, but I think for her the decision to end her career at the place, it overwhelmingly looks like it’s the U.S. Open from everything she said. And that’s where she won her first of 23 majors in 1999 so I think it is coming full circle, and a lot of times athletes like to have that feeling of coming full circle and coming out on their own terms.

Speaker 1: (01:53)
That’s amazing, as we show there on the screen her 23 majors, just one shy of the record. Can you just talk about her impact on the sport just in general?

Pam Shriver: (02:06)
Well, she has impacted tennis on the court, off the court. She’s taken tennis off the sports pages into pop culture. She bridges really people of all generations and a diversity of backgrounds. She’s become a great spokesperson, a philanthropists, she’s matured before our eyes. Sure she’s had moments at the U.S. Open that have been difficult for her and for us to watch but in the end she’s going to go down as one of the great athletes, not just in tennis but in sports history. When you think about her longevity, winning majors as a teenager in the ’90s and still competing in 2022, and her record in the Olympics in major double finals with Venus 14 and ), I could go on and on at the impact she’s had.

Speaker 1: (03:03)
Yeah. Serena Williams, one mouth iconic athletes in this generation announcing that in the coming weeks she will be retiring. Pam Shriver, thank you so much for giving us a few moments here of perspective.

Speaker 3: (03:15)
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