All-time great Serena Williams has announced her “evolution” and “transition” away from tennis to focus on building her family and investments, and the tennis icon is expected to play her final matches at the US Open in Queens, NY. Kurt Badenhausen, sports valuations reporter at Sportico joined Cheddar News to discuss. “I think if you look at it across all sports, she'll go down as one of the most accomplished athletes over the last hundred years across all sports. Whether you're talking about men or women and then tennis specifically, I mean, she's right there.”

Closing Bell

Serena Williams to 'Evolve Away' From Tennis

And let's turn to the biz of sports because Serena Williams making a major move might not be one, you would expect the tennis legend announcing in a vote, cover story out today that she's effectively retiring from the sport. But that she thinks of it differently saying, quote, I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn't feel like a mom. One word to me. I've been thinking of this as a transition. Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution. I'm here to tell you that I'm evolving away from tennis towards other things that are important to me. All those other things include funding entrepreneurs through her venture capital firm as well as building her family. So joining me now is kurt bottom housing sports valuations reporter at Sporting co kurt, it's great to see you what a major announcement I know you've been writing about Serena for decades. Why do you think she's making this announcement now? I think the word, She used a very poignant essay, um, Evolution, transition. I think those, those were spot on. And we've been watching this play out over the last five or six years with the birth of her daughter Olympia when she first started getting into venture investing eight or nine years ago and then officially launched Serena ventures, which has now made over 60 BC investments. So, so we've been watching this play out and, and these elite level athletes like Serena Lebron James, uh, Steph curry. They have incredible opportunities in front of them because they've generated hundreds of millions of dollars during their athletic careers. And then doors really open up to them in all other avenues of life. We're showing some of the greatest hits at video images from major winnings championships. Of course that serena has won over the years. Just how impressive is her career history on the tennis court? I think you look at it across all of sports. She'll go down as one of the most accomplished athletes over the last 100 years across all sports. Whether you're talking about men or women and then tennis specifically, I mean, she's right there. Uh you know, be a federal fans, Djokovic fans, maybe a steffi graf fan, but Serena's right there. 23 grand slams are the record in the open era, Men or women. And then she won another 16 slams in doubles, 14 with her sister venus. So incredible accomplishments. Prize money, $95 million. More than double number two. Also her sister venus. Uh So her run is really incredible. And if you think about how long a stretch has been at the top when she won the US Open in 1999 that's 23 years ago. Should be playing the U. S. Open again. We think she seemed to indicate that she'll play At this year's open and then probably hang up a racket. Uh that's a long time to be at the top of your sport. And we're showing here some career prize money, leaders in the sport of tennis for women. Serena. Well outpacing everyone behind her by more than double, nearly 95 million in total earnings, double what her sister Venus Williams made her older sister at 42 million. Simona Halep Maria, shar Karpova among some of the others on this list as well. You mentioned her time on the court, how long she's been considered the greatest player on the tennis court and we're gonna see her play one more time at the US Open this year, expectations for that match, It's gonna be big, you can see her tomorrow. She's in Toronto right now. She played yesterday, won her first match in over a year because she's been sidelined after tearing her hamstring at Wimbledon in 2021 was her first singles victory yesterday and she's scheduled to take the court again tomorrow and then she said she's looking forward to these next few weeks. So I think she's going to give us that uh that that one more chance to say goodbye in new york U. S. Open, one of the most attended tennis events in the world every year. Uh and and who knows, we could have a fairy tale ending, but she hasn't played much. So the odds, she will not be the favorite entering the U. S. Open. We've seen some crazier things happen at the open over the years. Well, again, we saw her in this boat cover story announcing her retirement or evolution of transition as she called it, saying that she's focusing on new things. What is next for serena in this next act. Well, she talked about focusing on her family. She says her daughter Olympia keeps saying she wants to be a big sister, and Serena says she her and her husband, Alexis been trying to have another baby. Um and that's what she really wants to focus on, and the reality is playing high level tennis. Um and then also, so trying to raise a family is an extreme challenge. And I think we've been a little spoiled, Serena's gonna be 41 years old next year. So, with Serena and venus and Roger Federer playing into their forties. I mean, that's not really how tennis exists. We've seen plenty of stars retire in their twenties. Ash Barty just retired as the number one player in the world. She was 25. Uh so this idea of playing tennis in your forties is extremely rare. It's it's a young person's game. Uh so I think very much is going to focus on her family, very much a hands on mother and also growing this business serene adventures uh company just raised $111 million from outside financing. Uh, so she's gonna push forward uh investing in female founders founders, people of color. Uh so she has talked about that a lot over the years, and how taken aback she was when she first heard that only 2% of venture capital money went to female founders. Right. I know we've had some of her companies, including Lolly, that we're showing on the screen there here on Cheddar news. Look, she's setting up for a nice second act. We're excited to watch her for these final few games and matches that. We'll get to see Kurt Boughton House in Sports Valuations, reporter at Sporting Coker. Thanks so much.