Serena Williams surprised the athletics globe when she unveiled she would be stepping away from tennis subsequent the U.S. Open to target on her relatives and her prosperous ventures off the court docket.

The 40-12 months-aged will walk absent from the sport with 23 Grand Slam titles – the most in the Open up Period and next most all-time at the rear of Margaret Court. She will get just one much more opportunity to tie the court’s record. She shed in the first round of Wimbledon earlier in the summer season.

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Serena Williams soon after her National Bank Open up match on Aug. 10, 2022, at Sobeys Stadium in Toronto, Canada. (Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire through Getty Photos)

John McEnroe, who partnered with Mixhalo to workforce up with Will Ferrell to call LAFC’s match versus Charlotte FC on Saturday evening, advised WHD News Digital that Williams was in the higher echelon of all-time fantastic athletes in any activity.

"Serena’s the biggest female athlete, to me, in the heritage of sporting activities. I don’t care who you could arrive up with. She’s one particular of the greatest athletes time period – male or woman. She’s put herself alongside the likes of Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, whoever you wanna say … She’s 40 several years aged. She’s performed every thing in tennis. She’s received nothing at all to verify," McEnroe explained.

"It seems like she desires to have additional kids, brilliant. She’s bought a good deal of other pursuits. Folks want to be a section of what she’s undertaking. She’ll be doing just great. We ended up form of anticipating this to happen. She required to gain a couple additional, one particular or two far more, crack the all-time document, gain a pair soon after obtaining her daughter. That does not search like it is gonna come about but that, to me, doesn’t consider absent that she’s the biggest of all time."

John McEnroe all through the Wimbledon Championships, July 3, 2022. (John Walton/PA Photos via Getty Visuals)

SERENA WILLIAMS LOSES 1st MATCH Since Announcing RETIREMENT

Williams produced her announcement in an essay revealed in Vogue magazine on Tuesday.

Williams admitted in the essay that there was no "happiness" in creating the announcement, but she was ready for "what’s up coming."

"There is no happiness in this matter for me," she wrote. "I know it is not the typical matter to say, but I truly feel a terrific deal of suffering. It’s the toughest issue that I could ever visualize. I detest it. I detest that I have to be at this crossroads. I maintain stating to myself, I want it could be effortless for me, but it is not. I’m torn: I really don't want it to be about, but at the exact time I’m prepared for what is upcoming."

Serena Williams competes against Belinda Bencic at the Countrywide Financial institution Open in Toronto, Canada, on Aug. 10, 2022. (Zou Zheng/Xinhua by way of Getty Photos)

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The U.S. Open is set for Aug. 29 and will finish on Sept. 11.