Serena Williams Talks Retirement, Super Bowl Commercial and More in B/R Interview

Serena Williams famously grew up playing tennis, became one of the best athletes in the history of any sport and retired as a 23-time Grand Slam champion.

Surely she can't get enough tennis even in her new role as a fan, right?

Maybe not.

"I haven't watched any," Williams told Bleacher Report. "I'm actually not watching until I know that I can mentally be ready for that. I haven't watched any tennis, which is interesting because usually even when I'm injured I'd watch a lot of tennis."

It turns out walking away from decades of greatness is much easier said than done.

While fellow GOATs such as Michael Jordan and Tom Brady came out of retirement—with the latter not even lasting an entire offseason—Williams stressed that she is "taking a full break from tennis right now" and isn't thinking about a potential comeback.

That full break is well deserved, as she just wrapped up a legendary career that included 73 singles titles, 23 Grand Slam titles and more than $94.8 million in prize money. Her greatness transcended the world of tennis and put her on a list of iconic sports figures who are known by a single name, such as Tiger, Michael, LeBron and Kobe.

Her list of major championships includes seven Australian Opens, seven Wimbledons, six U.S. Opens and three French Opens, the first of which came all the way back in the 1999 U.S. Open in her home country's Grand Slam.

It was fitting that Williams announced her retirement ahead of the 2022 U.S. Open, meaning her final major would happen where she was a fan favorite and the same location where she first experienced Grand Slam glory.

The 2022 U.S. Open turned into a celebration of her legacy with rousing ovations for seemingly every point, post-match ceremonies and a memorable second-round win over the No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit.

She ultimately advanced to the round of 32 before a loss to Ajla Tomljanović that both sent her into retirement and meant she no longer had to worry about the same level of grueling training necessary to maintain an all-time career.

"The best part is not having to train every day for eight hours a day," Williams said of retirement. "It's a lot. It's a 9-to-5 job I've done for my entire life. But I do miss it. I miss the camaraderie, I miss my friends, I miss the competition. I will always miss it."

Not training gives her additional time for other pursuits, such as partnering with Michelob Ultra for an upcoming Super Bowl commercial deemed "New Members Day" that pits her in a friendly golf competition at Bushwood Country Club with actor Brian Cox and others.

Michelob Ultra is also partnering with Netflix to promote its upcoming golf docuseries Full Swing with a Super Bowl commercial as part of the campaign.

"It was a really fun experience having the chance to work with some incredible athletes and some really exciting actors," Williams said. "It was really cool and really different. I love that in all these Michelob ads, we really just champion so many different things. But the main point that we always champion is joy. I think it's so important now to somehow find joy in our lives and everything that we deal with."

She admitted her putting skills could use some work by saying "I'm definitely a tennis player" while laughing but did point out the "very similar swing" to her sport helped with driving off the tee box.

Perhaps she can take advantage of retirement with additional golf practice, but she is focused elsewhere.

"It's fun to just take a break and do something I've never done before in my life, which is to be normal," Williams said of hanging up the tennis racquet. "Or as normal as I can be."

That means more time to be a mother, more time to enjoy life and, maybe one day, more time to watch tennis as a fan even if she can't bring herself to do that just yet.