Serena Williams Birthday: 23-Time Major Champ Dismisses Retirement Talk

Serena Williams is not only the greatest women’s tennis player in the history of the game but a global icon for her work off the court. She has numerous ventures away from tennis and one of them is being the chair on the board of advisors of Verizon Media and in a recent interaction with CNBC during Advertising Week event alongside the media company’s CEO Guru Gowrappan, she spoke about her future in tennis.

The American has dominated women’s tennis for over a decade winning 23 women’s singles Grand Slam titles and after taking time off to start a family with husband Alex Ohanian in 2017, she returned to the court in 2018. Williams has failed to win a title since her return but she has made four Grand Slam finals, and she is still not at her best, according to coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

Williams turns 38-years-old Thursday and despite admitting that she is in the twilight of her career, she made it clear she does not plan to hang up her racket anytime soon. She is keen to win her 24th Grand Slam title and equal the all-time record set by Margaret Court and her failure in the last four finals she reached is unlikely to deter the former world No. 1.

The multiple major winner was asked about her future plans during the interaction and she made it clear she has no plans of calling time on her career by saying: “[she intends to] transfer out, you know, in 20 years. Not anytime soon,” as quoted on Yahoo.

Williams may seem more vulnerable now, especially since she lost her last two US Open women’s singles finals to two players, who were playing in their first ever Grand Slam finals. But since the Williams era of dominance ended there has not been one single player able to dominate the women’s tour.

The American believes she is on the right path to get back to her best and despite Williams’ schedule now revolving around daughter Alexis Olympia, she is keen to get back to winning. And for the 38-year-old to win a Grand Slam after becoming a mother is likely to have a bigger impact in terms of empowering women world over than just equaling a long-held record.