Serena Williams hints she could yet return to tennis after praising Tom Brady’s NFL comeback

Serena Williams says she could return to tennis one day, in the same way Tom Brady backtracked on his retirement plans to continue playing in the NFL.

There were then mixed messages from the 40-year-old after her defeat.

In her post match interview on court, she seemingly confirmed she was finished, saying, “It’s been a fun ride. It’s been the most incredible ride and journey I’ve ever been on in my life. I’m just so grateful to everyone who has ever said ‘go Serena’ in their life. I’m just so grateful because you got me here.”

Then, just minutes later in the interview room when asked if she may be tempted to keep going, Williams said: “I don’t know. I’m not thinking about that. I always did love Australia, though.”

The 23-time Grand Slam winner has now added further fuel to the fire with her appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Asked by the American chat show host about whether she could perform a dramatic U-turn to her retirement plans, Williams said, “Tom Brady started an amazing trend. That’s what I want to say.”

It took Brady just 40 days to reverse his decision to leave the NFL. After 22 seasons, he announced he was done and ready to walk away, but before the ink on his sporting eulogy was dry, the seven-time Super Bowl champion agreed to return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Speaking about the idea of retirement, and what it means to her, Williams told Fallon, “I think retirement is something that is super earned and that people work really hard for.

“I feel like I’m at an age where I definitely have a lot more to give and there’s a lot more that I want to do so I’m not going to be relaxing, there’s so much more for me.

“I feel like it’s more of an evolution of Serena.”

Despite her staying mysterious over any future on-court outings, Williams has made it clear that it will not be any time soon.

“There’s so many things that I’ve been wanting to do for so many years and I’ve had such a passion for tennis for so long that I’ve never done them”, she said.

“Now it’s time for me to start to enjoy those things.”

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