• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
SuccessSerena Williams

Serena Williams will retire from tennis with a $260 million net worth and GOAT status. Next up: Her $111 million venture capital fund with nearly 60 investments

By
Jane Thier
Jane Thier
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jane Thier
Jane Thier
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 9, 2022, 2:15 PM ET
Serena Williams walking onto the court with her gear, with a young boy walking alongside her.
Tennis legend Serena Williams announced her retirement yesterday in a Vogue article.Robert Prange—Getty Images

In a Vogue feature published Tuesday morning, tennis icon and 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams announced that she would be retiring from the sport to focus on family—and her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures.

“I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” she wrote for Vogue. She says raising her daughter, Olympia, has never felt like a sacrifice the way tennis has. “These days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter.”

Across a decades-long career that began when she was 5 years old, Williams, who turns 41 next month, has amassed an unrivaled track record. She won her first Grand Slam singles event at age 17 in 1999, and, with her sister Venus, has won 14 Grand Slam women’s doubles events. In the 2012 Olympics, Williams nabbed the singles tennis gold medal; she and Venus have three Olympic gold medals for doubles. The Women’s Tennis Association currently ranks her the No. 1 singles player in the world.

In 2017, Williams was the only woman to make Forbes’s list of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes, coming in at No. 51. On last year’s list, she jumped to 28th place. With a $260 million net worth, and over $94.5 million awarded in prize money, she is the highest-earning female athlete of all time. 

From the court to the corner office

While Williams didn’t specify a hard end date for her tennis career, she suggested in an Instagram post that the U.S. Open, which kicks off in Queens, N.Y., later this month, could be her last tournament. “The countdown has begun,” she wrote. “I’m gonna relish these next few weeks.” 

She’s been slowly shifting her balance toward Serena Ventures, she wrote in her Vogue article: “Every morning, I’m so excited to walk downstairs to my office and jump onto Zooms and start reviewing decks of companies we’re considering investing in.” 

Williams says she’s fallen in love with early stage pre-seed and seed funding since making her first investments nearly a decade ago. She was among the first investors in online education subscription platform MasterClass—one of the 16 unicorns her firm has funded, alongside Impossible Foods, Tonal, and French NFT company Sorare.

“Think of Sorare as a new revenue stream [for female athletes],” Williams told Fortune in a January interview. “It can have a major impact on women’s sports; collecting, trading, or supporting the teams and the favorite players really brings so much more than ever. Being an adviser, I get to see lots of companies coming up…it’s exciting, and it’s going to be so impactful.”

Largely, the companies Williams has supported share hallmarks with the career she’s leaving behind: health, wellness, and athletics. The six-person team at Serena Ventures has raised $111 million of outside financing in 2022 so far. The company has made 55 investments to date. Nearly 80% of its portfolio is female- and minority-founded companies, “because that’s who we are,” she wrote. 

She name-checked a handful of female inspirations, including Billie Jean King, former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, and Clear Secure CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker, whom Williams credits with informing her that women receive only 2% of venture capital money.

“I kind of understood then and there that someone who looks like me needs to start writing the big checks. Sometimes like attracts like,” Williams wrote. “Men are writing those big checks to one another, and in order for us to change that, more people who look like me need to be in that position, giving money back to themselves.” 

Sign up for the Fortune Features email list so you don’t miss our biggest features, exclusive interviews, and investigations.

About the Author
By Jane Thier
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Success

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Success

Gen Z are already more bullish than millennials about early retirement—and many think they can quit work for good with just $500,000
SuccessRetirement
Gen Z are already more bullish than millennials about early retirement—and many think they can quit work for good with just $500,000
By Orianna Rosa RoyleApril 4, 2026
57 minutes ago
Microsoft just turned 51. Here’s a look at an iconic 1978 photo of its first employees and where they are now
Big TechMicrosoft
Microsoft just turned 51. Here’s a look at an iconic 1978 photo of its first employees and where they are now
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezApril 4, 2026
8 hours ago
stressed student
Personal FinanceColleges and Universities
College grads in ‘AI-proof’ careers like psychology and education are seeing negative returns on their degrees
By Jake AngeloApril 4, 2026
9 hours ago
Delta CEO Ed Bastian
Successsuccess
How Delta uses Tom Brady to train its 100,000 workforce on leadership and a winner’s mindset
By Emma BurleighApril 4, 2026
9 hours ago
A person taking a supplement.
HealthDietary Supplements
What Is NMN: Everything You Need to Know From Experts
By Katherine Van DisApril 3, 2026
23 hours ago
Starbucks baristas working in store
SuccessJobs
Starbucks is offering $1,200 bonuses, expanded tipping, and weekly payouts to boost the pay of its U.S. baristas
By Emma BurleighApril 3, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we’re just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
Innovation
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we’re just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
1 day ago
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
Real Estate
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
By Fortune EditorsApril 2, 2026
3 days ago
The World Cup is supposed to be an economic windfall. But 'you're seeing a number of headwinds' now
North America
The World Cup is supposed to be an economic windfall. But 'you're seeing a number of headwinds' now
By Fortune EditorsApril 4, 2026
8 hours ago
The Walmart billionaires next door: Quiet backlash is brewing against the heirs who remade the retailer’s hometown
Magazine
The Walmart billionaires next door: Quiet backlash is brewing against the heirs who remade the retailer’s hometown
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of April 3, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of April 3, 2026
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of silver as of Friday, April 3, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Friday, April 3, 2026
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.