- Serena Williams announced she is retiring from tennis Tuesday in a column written for Vogue.
- The tennis legend said Tiger Woods convinced her to give Wimbledon and the US Open one more try.
- "He's Tiger, and he was adamant that I be a beast the same way he is!" she said in the article.
Serena Williams — who announced she is retiring from tennis on Tuesday — said that Tiger Woods convinced her to give Wimbledon and the US Open one more shot.
In a column for Vogue, the tennis legend said she had an "itch to get back on the court" this spring for the first time in months. She said she turned to Woods for advice on her career.
"I said, 'I don't know what to do: I think I'm over it, but maybe I'm not over it,'" she recalled.
"He's Tiger, and he was adamant that I be a beast the same way he is!" she said. "He said, 'Serena, what if you just gave it two weeks? You don't have to commit to anything. You just go out on the court every day for two weeks and give it your all and see what happens.'"
"I said, 'All right, I think I can do that.' And I didn't do it," Williams admitted. "But a month later, I gave it a try. And it felt magical to pick up a racket again. And I was good. I was really good."
Since then, she said she went "back and forth" about whether to play Wimbledon and the US Open, but decided to give it one more go.
Williams said she is choosing to "evolve" away from the sport in order to grow her family with her partner, Alexis Ohanian, and her daughter, Olympia.
"I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don't think it's fair," she wrote for Vogue.
She added that she "definitely" does not want to be pregnant again as an athlete. In fact, she admitted she was two months pregnant with her daughter when she won the Australian Open in 2017.
"I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out," Williams said.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.