Serena Williams: Legend, prodigy, mother, human

I am not famous and I do not play professional sports. However, I did immerse myself in my career before having children so I know what it is like to choose between career and family. Which is why the story of Serena Williams and her decision to retire from tennis carries special meaning for me.

The 41-year-old tennis genius announced a fortnight ago that she would hang her racket for good, because of the conflict between her incredible career and the welfare of her young family.

Any mother who values honesty will tell you that the terms of motherhood are not great. I came out of that firestorm just four months ago and my version is that motherhood is designed to eliminate weak souls from existence.

Mothers sacrifice so much. First, their bodies for nine months, during which they add unwanted weight and become unable to wash down dinner with a glass of wine.

After that, the real sacrifices begin. Some of us sacrifice career plans, our time, our energy, our sanity and our sense of identity as it once existed.

Even mothers who vow never to get bogged down by their status find themselves rotating around their little ones when it is time to leave for the office, struggling painfully to leave their bundle of joy under someone else’s care for the day.

Mark you, this exercise in insanity is one that just never closes! No wonder more and more women are foregoing motherhood altogether.

How encouraging, therefore, was it to know from Serena’s story that no child understands its mother’s absence. Not even Olympia, the child of an athlete who has attained incomparable success on the court.

How comforting for all mothers out there to know that even super stars like Serena, who can afford the best child care, involving the most qualified and trusted individuals, still worry about not spending enough time with their children?

To know that even millionaires like her are tormented by what they have to sacrifice in order to keep going?

And while she is at it, millions of women worldwide are taking note. Olympic gold medallist Allyson Felix is one of them.

Allyson discovered she was pregnant a year after Serena, and decided to chart the same path. She continued training and competing, and grinded back after delivery to win a relay gold at the Tokyo Olympics and become the most decorated female Olympic track-and-field athlete in history.

Serena will leave behind a blazing legacy not just for women in sports, not just for all women, but for all mankind. If Serena can win a Grand Slam while nine weeks pregnant, what is holding you back from actualising your dreams?

I know that age might have played a role in her decision, but if the greatest tennis player has admitted that she never wants to be a pregnant athlete ever again, why are you clinging onto habits, routines and practises that leave you feeling burned out and overwhelmed?

Nobody is to say that Serena will never pick up a racket again, but her legacy will certainly live through the millions of female athletes, and by extension women in all workplaces, who now have a living legend on who to model their lives on.  

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