Serena Williams father died: Richard Williams who was the father of Venus and Serena Williams died at 80. King Richard as he was fondly called produced two great players who have won combined 30 singles grand slam titles and 14 doubles in a career spanning over a quarter of a century. Venus was born in 1980 while Serena came up in 1981. Two mixed doubles in French Open and Aussie Open in 1998.
In other other news, in the September 2022 issue of Vogue, written in August, Williams announced that she was “evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.” In her announcement, she said that she disliked the word “retirement” and preferred the term “evolution”.
She went on to cite growing her family, focusing on her venture capital firm, and spending more time with family as reasons she would be leaving the sport. While she did not set an exact time for her goodbye, she stated that she wasn’t ready to win Wimbledon (where she lost in the first round), but would try to win in New York. She also said that she consulted Tiger Woods in her decision.
At her first match since the publication of the Vogue article, where she lost to Belinda Bencic in Toronto, tournament organizers interviewed Williams on-court after her match and gave her gifts to remember the city.
At her matches at the 2022 US Open, which many believed would be her last tournament, tournament directors played a video following her opponents’ introduction but before Williams’ walk-out. Some saw this as disrespectful to her opponents.
Following her first round match, where Woods, Mike Tyson, Bill Clinton, Ruth Westheimer, Spike Lee, Vera Wang, and Eric Adams were in attendance, the tournament played a video narrated by Oprah Winfrey and had Gayle King facilitate the post-match on-court interview. Following the interview, the crowd participated in a card stunt that read “WE ❤️ SERENA”.
Following her announcement, many fellow players including Naomi Osaka, and Coco Gauff praised Williams and said they would not be playing tennis if it weren’t for her.