Women’s tennis icon Serena Williams is among the sport’s greatest players. She is enjoying her life off the court, spending quality time with her kids and husband Alexis Ohanian while expanding her stature in the business and entrepreneurial realm. The 43-year-old recently spoke about on playing tennis after retiring from the sport.
Serena Williams’ Take on Tennis Since Her Professional Retirement
In an appearance on The Today Show, morning show, Williams reflected on many of the recent changes she had incorporated in her lifestyle, leading to her considerable weight loss and flaunting a well-chiseled physique. Additionally, the former World No. 1 was asked to reflect on tennis and what importance the sport had on her life even after her retirement in 2022.
“You know what? I love playing it. I do. It’s a great way to work out.
It’s a great way to burn a tremendous amount of calories fast. Yeah, this is me practicing just the other day,” Williams said.
“But you know what’s hard for me? I can’t practice relaxed. This is just like normal, relaxed hitting for me. And I’m like, no, no, no, I have to move forward. I have to be like, my mind just goes into like, move your feet, do this, do that, and it’s like I just can’t be calm,” she added.
When the show’s hosts agreed with Williams’ take on not being able to let go of that competitive spirit while playing the sport, as it was in her DNA, the 43-year-old said, “No, it’s just not. I wish, I wish. Maybe one day soon.”
Serena Williams Shared Her Personal Health Journey
Williams started the interview by reflecting on her health journey since adding the GLP-1 medications to her new and improved lifestyle. She said:
“You know what? A lot of people are actually on GLP-1s but don’t really want to talk about it and don’t really want to say it, and so I just felt like if I needed to do it, and I felt like I needed to do it because I wasn’t able to lose the weight that I wanted to lose.”
“I would always lose a lot of weight, but I would never be able to move past the marker that was actually healthy. That’s why I feel like my story is so important. I was never able to get to the weight that I wanted to get to and that I needed to get to for to be super healthy and to be able to play at my best until I got on GLP-1s after my second child,” the former World No. 1 added.
Less than a year after retiring from tennis, Williams gave birth to her second daughter, Adira, in Aug. 2023. Her older daughter, Olympia, was born in Sept. 2017, two months before her marriage to Alexis Ohanian.
