Venus Williams gives shock retirement update aged 44 after incredible 30-year career in tenni

VENUS WILLIAMS gave a shock retirement update at the veteran age of 44.

The tennis legend – sister of fellow great Serena – turned pro all the way back in 1994.

Venus Williams gave an update on her tennis careerCredit: PA

The American missed Wimbledon this yearCredit: Getty

But after 30 years on the WTA circuit and seven Grand Slam titles, she insists she is not prepared to call time on her extraordinary career just yet because she still loves tennis.

That is despite the fact she has not played since first-round defeats in the Sunshine Double in Indian Wells and Miami in March – and not won a match since August 2023.

Williams, born in June 1980, told the Irish News: “I’m not done with the racquet yet.

“At this point, it’s about picking and choosing places I want to be.

“Last year I really wanted to play in Miami – home – because I hadn’t played there in like five years.

“It’s nice to be in a place where I can pick and choose, but my game is always at a high level. Even if I’m not on tour, I always keep my game quite high.

“I took some time off the court [after Miami] to do all kinds of things – I’m like, I need to go back to tennis so I can have some time to myself.

“I always watch the tournaments as much as I can – it’s hard to sit in front of the TV, and a lot of times by the time I have time at like 11pm it’s a replay, but it’s still fun to watch all the competition.”

Venus has won five Wimbledon titles while Serena collected seven of her 23 Majors at the All England Club.

But this summer’s tournament, won by Barbora Krejcikova, was the first women’s singles draw not featuring either Williams sister since 1996.
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Venus, currently ranked No958 in the world with £32.6million in career earnings, has not been sitting around twiddling her thumbs during her time away from the court, though.

She runs her own interior design company, owns a plant-based protein shake called Happy Viking, wore an outfit of recycled tennis bags at Vogue World fashion event in Paris and released her latest book.

Strive: 8 Steps to Find Your Awesome is all about maximising potential to live and achieve your best life – something she has demonstrated in the past decade since her diagnosis for the autoimmune disease Sjogren’s syndrome.

Williams added: “Finding out I had an incurable autoimmune disorder – one that flares up unexpectedly, causing pain, numbness, and fatigue – was one of the hardest things to accept, especially when my career expects me to be at my physical best.

“Who gets diagnosed with a disease that starts with ‘S’ and ‘J’, you know? First of all, how do I pronounce this?

“It definitely made me look at things differently. Even when it was hard to look at things differently, just to focus on what I could accomplish instead of what I couldn’t.

“I think even this year I definitely pushed too hard, and it left me feeling very unmotivated, even though I had stuff to do.

“As an athlete, as a tennis player, you’re playing ten months a year – what balance is that?

“Number one is happiness. If you are not happy, nothing feels good – nothing feels successful or happy when you are sad inside.”