The athlete talked about stepping away from tennis during her appearance on 'The Tonight Show.'
It's entirely possible that Serena Williams could follow in Tom Brady's footsteps when it comes to her assumed retirement from tennis. The 40-year-old professional athlete previously expressed her intention to step away from the sport she's been playing since childhood.
But on Tuesday's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, host Fallon asked Williams if she'd consider "pulling a Tom Brady." The football legend announced he was retiring in January 2022 only to come out of retirement 39 days later.
"You know what, Tom Brady started an amazing trend," Williams teased. "That's what I'm going to say."
"When it came out, I was actually relieved, and I didn't expect to feel that way. I felt good," she said on the Tonight Show. "I was heavy for months. When it came out, all this stuff just got released and I felt so much better."
Williams explained further why she hesitates to use the word "retirement" when it comes to her exit from tennis.
"I feel like retirement is something that's super earned and people have worked hard for," she said. "I just feel like I'm at an age where I have a lot more to give. There's a lot more that I want to do. So, I'm not going to be relaxing, there's so much more for me. I feel like it's an evolution of Serena. There's so many things that I've been wanting to do for so many years and I have such a passion for tennis for so long that I've never done it. But now it's time for me to try to enjoy those things."
Williams first announced that she'd be stepping away from tennis in an essay for Vogue's September 2022 issue. She then competed in the U.S. Open earlier this month, losing what many believe to be her final match to Ajla Tomljanović.
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