Why Venus Williams Says Sister Serena Williams ‘Ruined’ Retirement for Her

Venus Williams isn’t planning on an emotional tennis farewell tour — because most people assume it already happened. 

In a recent interview, Venus, 44, joked that her career and legacy got lumped together with sister Serena Williams when she stepped away from the sport in 2022. 

“As that moment gets closer, Serena ruined it for me,” Venus said. “Because as soon as she retired, everybody thought I retired.”

Serena, 43, played her final match at the US Open in September 2022 after announcing she would be “evolving away” from tennis in a Vogue essay published the previous month. 

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“Sometimes they even think we’re twins,” Venus said of her and younger sister Serena, who were born 15 months apart. “If you guys did think so, we are two separate people, born on different days.”

Over the years, Venus — who last competed in the Miami Open in March 2024 and hasn’t won a professional match since August 2023 — has often thought about the emotional toll retiring from tennis will take. 

“I always thought that I would be just crying when I had to retire, because it’s all you know and you spend your whole life programming your mind to do that every single day,” she explained. “It’s the first thing you think about when you wake up, the first thing when you go to bed. You dream about it.”

However, with some age — and undoubtedly already seeing her sister go through the process — has come some wisdom.

“Now I realize that I won’t cry because I’ve definitely given everything to this sport,” Venus said with confidence. 

The 7-time Grand Slam champion added, “I think more than anything, I’ll be grateful. I think that will be the feeling.”

Still, when the retirement bell tolls, Venus acknowledged that it will be difficult to say goodbye definitively. 

“Every now and then I’ll want to threaten to come back,” she said. 

Serena recently issued a similar threat, telling Vanity Fair in July 2024 that a comeback is “always going to be in the back, back, back, back, back, back, back of my mind.”

“I stay fit. I stay healthy,” Serena added. “When I’m watching, it’s like, Okay, well, you could be out there, too.”

As far as when Venus expects to retire, she recently indicated she’s “not done with the racket yet.”

“At this point, it’s about picking and choosing places I want to be,” Venus told the Irish News in a story published October 9. “Last year I really wanted to play in Miami — home — because I hadn’t played there in like five years. It’s nice to be in a place where I can pick and choose, but my game is always at a high level. Even if I’m not on tour, I always keep my game quite high.”

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Along with her 7 Grand Slam singles titles — five at Wimbledon, two at the U.S. Open — Venus has also won 14 women’s doubles major titles, all with sister Serena by her side. 

In addition, Venus is a four-time Olympic gold medalist, winning in doubles with Serena three times. At the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Venus won the singles’ gold medal. She also won a silver medal in mixed doubles at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with partner Rajeev Ram. 

Nearly 30 years after making her professional debut at the age of 14, Venus told Us Weekly exclusively why she’s been motivated to keep pushing ahead.

“There’s nothing better than not having a regret,” she said in September. “It doesn’t mean you’re gonna always win, but it just means that you’re gonna give it your all. And that you left it all out there.”