\n<\/p>\n
Serena Williams<\/strong> couldn\u2019t bear to watch.<\/p>\n As the quarterfinal action of Wimbledon unfolded on Tuesday, Williams tuned in to the tournament she\u2019d won seven times\u2013\u2013but not for long. \u201cI just had to turn it off,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was too hard.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearly two years into retirement, Williams is finding the role of tennis spectator more challenging than the role of player. That wasn\u2019t the case initially, as Williams said she \u201cwatched every single tournament\u201d in the first year after hanging up her racquet.<\/p>\n Not long after ending her tennis career, Williams, who already had one daughter, Olympia,<\/strong> with her husband, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian,<\/strong> became pregnant with their second, Adira,<\/strong> who was born last August. She felt more content with retirement while pregnant, Williams said, but now \u201cit\u2019s definitely harder.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI miss it, and I think that\u2019s normal. It\u2019s normal to miss something that you\u2019ve done since the day you were born,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But when it comes to watching tennis these days?<\/p>\n \u201cOh my God,\u201d she said. \u201cI just can\u2019t right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Such angst is normal for an athlete transitioning to a post-playing career\u2013\u2013particularly one as decorated as Williams, winner of 23 Grand Slam singles titles and the greatest sportswoman of her generation. The ecstasy of high-level competition is not replicable in civilian life.<\/p>\n Which is why Williams, now 42, can\u2019t fully rule out a comeback, no matter how remote the possibility.<\/p>\n \u201cI think as long as I\u2019m healthy, that\u2019s always going to be in the back, back, back, back, back, back, back of my mind,\u201d she said. \u201cI stay fit. I stay healthy. When I\u2019m watching, it\u2019s like, Okay, well, you could be out there too.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the sense of longing, Williams still believes she made the right decision to walk away from tennis when she did. And she has hardly languished in retirement.<\/p>\n Since playing her final match at the 2022 US Open, Williams has kept busy\u2013\u2013with motherhood and her portfolio. Her venture capital fund, Serena Ventures, which she founded in 2017, has continued to invest in start-ups and unicorns, particularly those run by women and people of color. She and Ohanian also have stakes in the National Women\u2019s Soccer League\u2019s Angel City FC and the Los Angeles Golf Club, a franchise in the TGL golf league, which is set to launch<\/a> next year.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Williams will shift from investment to entertainment when she hosts the ESPY Awards, ESPN\u2019s annual ceremony honoring the best teams, athletes, and moments from the past year in sports.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a bucket list moment for Williams, who said she had always wanted to host the ESPYs but never could due to scheduling conflicts. The ceremony has long been held in the middle of the summer, a time that used to see Williams dominating on the grass courts of Wimbledon. With her playing career wrapped, Williams didn\u2019t think twice when ESPN courted her in the spring to host.<\/p>\n But not every part of the gig has come naturally to her.<\/p>\n \u201cI think as a host you have to make fun of people, and I\u2019m struggling with that,\u201d she told me by phone while in between rehearsals on Tuesday. \u201cI got a line the other day, and I was like, I don\u2019t want to say that. But I also understand that\u2019s part of the job.\u201d<\/p>\n