Serena Williams has said she has not retired from tennis and that the chances of her returning are “very high”.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion said she was “evolving away from tennis” in an essay in August.
While she did not confirm last month’s US Open as her farewell event, she was greeted with tributes, hailed “the greatest of all time”, and waved an emotional goodbye after losing in the first round.
“The chances (of a return) are very high. You can come to my house, I have a court,” Williams, 41, said at a conference in San Francisco on Monday while promoting her investment company, Serena Ventures.
“I am not retired,” she added.
Williams also said that not preparing for a tournament after the US Open did not feel natural to her.
She said: “I still haven’t really thought about (retirement).
“But I did wake up the other day and go on the court and (considered) for the first time in my life that I’m not playing for a competition, and it felt really weird.
“It was like the first day of the rest of my life and I’m enjoying it, but I’m still trying to find that balance.”
Athletes, celebrities and politicians paid tribute to Williams after she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic at the US Open in September.
Basketball star LeBron James described her as a GOAT – meaning greatest of all time, while Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey paid tribute to her successful career.
Williams completed the career Golden Slam by holding all four majors as well as Olympic singles gold.
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In her Vogue essay, Williams made clear that her family was a major consideration in her decision to “evolve away from tennis”.
She added that she didn’t like the word “retirement” and was evolving away from the sport “toward other things that are important to me”.
