Serena Williams may have just played the final match of her tennis career and you might want to grab some tissues.
Following her loss against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović in the US Open, the 23-time Grand Slam champion shed “happy tears” while talking about her family in her post-match interview on September 2. “Thank you, Daddy. I know you’re watching,” she said of her father, Richard Williams, according to People. “Thanks, Mom. Oh, my God.”
“I thank everyone that’s here, that’s been on my side so many years, decades. Oh, my gosh, literally decades,” she continued through tears. “But it all started with my parents. And they deserve everything. So I’m really grateful for them.”
But it was her statements about her older sister, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, that will really make you emotional. “I wouldn’t be Serena if there wasn’t Venus, so thank you, Venus,” Serena said. “She’s the only reason that Serena Williams ever existed.”
After thanking her husband Alexis Ohanian, Serena had some final words for her fans after 27 years as a professional tennis player. “It’s been a fun ride. It’s been the most incredible ride and journey I’ve ever been on, I mean, in my life,” Serena said. “I’m just so grateful to every single person that’s ever said, Go, Serena, in their life. I’m just so grateful. You got me here.”
