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US tennis champion Serena Williams announced on Tuesday that she has “started the countdown” to her retirement from the sport.\n<\/p>\n
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam winner, added that a time has come in her life to move in a different direction.\n<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old said in an Instagram post that she needs to focus on being a mother and achieving her spiritual growth.\n<\/p>\n
She wrote: “There comes a time in life when we have to decide to move in a different direction. That time is always hard when you love something so much. God, I love tennis. But now, the countdown has begun .\n<\/p>\n
“I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals, and finally discovering a different, but exciting Serena. I’m going to enjoy these next few weeks.”<\/p>\n
In an exclusive piece for Vogue magazine, Williams noted that she had never liked the word “retirement” but would rather go with the word “evolution.”\n<\/p>\n
She said: “I’ve never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking about it as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people.\n<\/p>\n
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m doing is evolution. I am here to tell you that I am evolving from tennis to other things that are important to me.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cA few years ago I quietly started Serena Ventures, a venture capital company. Soon after I started a family. I want to grow this family.”\n<\/p>\n