BREAKING: Serena Williams Announces She'll Be Retiring From Tennis After This Year's US Open

Clive Brunskill. Getty Images.

And there it is, Serena Williams announces she's stepping away from tennis. Oddly enough in the article she actually doesn't make it crystal clear, but the conclusion to be drawn here is that she's done after the US Open in a few weeks. This was always going to be the end for her and it's the right move. If you watched her play at Wimbledon this year you saw she's clearly cooked and there's nothing wrong with that. Serena has had a ton of issues since coming back after pregnancy that made it incredibly hard to take on the physicality of the sport. At 40 years old it's time to do something else. 

Whether you like her or not (I've always been a Venus guy) there's no denying the impact she's had on not just on tennis, but sports in general. She's one of the all-time great athletes of our lives. Watching Serena dominate in her prime was honestly insane. It was laughable how much better she was than everyone else. I always kinda laugh when I think about her rivalry against Maria Sharapova. Head to head Serena had a 20-2 advantage and 8-1 in grand slams. Sharapova was great, but that just shows you how much better Serena was. In her prime no one could touch her. 

So in a few weeks one of the game's greatest players on either side will be retiring for the sport. It's likely the first big domino of a few to fall in the next several years. Venus Williams surely won't be far behind her sister. You gotta think Federer is soon with maybe 2023's Wimbledon being his end point. At some point Rafael Nadal is gonna hang them up and I'd guess about two years there as long as his body holds up. I think Djokovic will keep it going until he has the record, but I could see him being done within five years. We've finally hit the point where these titans of the sport are gonna move away. It's a big "make you feel old" moment. 

Serena is currently competing in the National Bank Open up in the Toronto. She actually won her first match in over a year yesterday. I imagine we'll see her at Cincy as well before things get going at the US Open. Those tickets on Arthur Ashe for her final match/matches are gonna be INSANE. You're gonna see big time celebrities make their way to Flushing for that. Hopefully she can get a few wins under her belt at each of these tournaments and go out in a nice way.

P.S. I hope she plays doubles with Venus at the US Open. That would be very fucking cool to go out like that.