Rogers Cup: Serena Williams Explains Priority Change, No Retirement Plans

Serena Williams will compete at the Rogers Cup for the first time in four years. The American is using the tournament in Toronto as part of her preparations for the final Grand Slam of the year in New York later this month.

The 23-time women’s singles Grand Slam champion last played the event in 2015 when she lost the final to Belinda Bencic but she is a former three-time Rogers Cup winner. A lot has changed for Williams since and she admitted that tennis is not her main priority at the moment, it is daughter, Alexis Olympia, who was born in 2017.

Williams has not won a title since her triumph at the 2017 Australian Open when she was pregnant with Alexis. She has reached three Grand Slam finals but has been unable to take the final step which will allow her to equal Margaret Court’s all-time Grand Slam record of 24 titles.

“As a professional tennis player, I have different priorities now. I schedule my life around my daughter,” Williams said as she met with the media on Sunday, as quoted on The Globe and Mail. “It’s cool because I always have something really spectacular to look forward to whether I’m winning or losing a match. It’s a whole different part of my life now.”

Despite being just two months shy of her 38th birthday, Williams, who is widely considered among the greatest players ever to play the game, has no plans of hanging up her racket anytime soon. She made it clear that she still loves her “job” which is to go out and play in front of packed crowds but admitted that it cannot continue for too long.

“I love my job, I love what I do,” Williams said. “It’s fun to be a part of a group of people who go out and play, just two people in front of an amazing crowd. It’s not much incredibly longer that I’m going to be able to do that. There aren’t many people who can do it, so I’m just really proud to be a part of that.”

Williams is seeded eighth for the tournament and will have a bye in the first round. She will play the winners of Elise Mertens and Aliaksandra Sasnovich and is in the same draw as 2018 US Open women’s final opponent Naomi Osaka, who is the number two seed at the tournament.