Tennis is a uniquely grueling sport for new parents. Much of the calendar year is considered a season, and much of that season is spent traveling back and forth across the globe for tournaments.
But returning to the world’s biggest stages didn’t seem like a big deal for Williams. “I went from a cesarean to a second pulmonary embolism to a Grand Slam final. I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression,” she wrote. She reached her 10th Wimbledon final in July 2018, less than a year after giving birth.
Since then, Williams’ daughter hasn’t been far from the stands. There’s Olympia at the Fed Cup, wearing a red and white headband with a glitter bow. And at the ASB classic, sitting on her dad’s lap, clapping, excited to see which shiny trophy mom has this time. At the Top Seed Open, she was spotted in the stands, a little distracted by an iPhone (happens for the best of us). And she had a front-row seat at the 2020 US Open bubble, pointing and saying “Mama” in a nearly empty stadium.
In the past five years, Williams said she hasn’t spent more than 24 hours away from her daughter.
But Williams made one thing clear. Her development (retirement, she said, isn’t a word she likes to use) isn’t an easy decision; It’s not someone she’s been able to talk about with anyone other than her therapist. This is no easy ride into the sunset. No, it’s a harder decision — one she really didn’t want to make.
“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and family. I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a man, I wouldn’t be writing this because I would be out there playing and winning while my wife does the physical work to expand our family,” she said. “Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.”
So does 36-year-old Rafael Nadal. He announced that his wife Maria Francisca Perello is pregnant with their first child. At a press conference in June, Nadal, the winner of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, said: “I don’t think it will change my professional life.”