Serena Williams

Serena Williams says she had a benign branchial cyst the size of a small grapefruit removed from her neck and all is OK. The retired tennis star, who turned 43 last month, posted Wednesday on social media that she found a lump on her neck in May, had an MRI exam, and was told she didn't need to get it removed if she didn't want to. So she didn't then, but it kept growing, Williams said. After more tests, including a biopsy that was negative for cancer, Williams said, her doctors said she should have a procedure. She showed video of herself in a hospital bed and wrote: So this is me removing it. I am feeling so grateful, and fortunate everything worked out, and most of all I'm healthy. In a separate social media post, she said she is still recovering, but getting better. Health always comes first. Williams announced her retirement famously eschewing that term and saying instead she was evolving away from professional tennis shortly before playing in the 2022 U.S. Open, her last .

If this is, as expected, Rafael Nadal's final French Open, it will be one that everyone the 37-year-old Spaniard included surely will remember vividly. No matter how healthy the guy everyone calls "Rafa" might be. No matter how long his stay in the bracket lasts. No matter whether he somehow adds another championship at Roland Garros to the record 14 he owns. Narrator: Not even Nadal truly believes that is possible. Indeed, as of Wednesday morning, he had not announced definitely whether he would be in the field, although he showed up on-site to practice. "I am not negative," he explained. "I am just realistic." Think back just a couple of years ago to Serena Williams' farewell at the US Open. That's the sort of atmosphere and adoration likely to be on display whenever Nadal swings a racket or simply strolls around the compact-for-a-Grand-Slam-grounds in the southwest section of Paris where the clay-court tournament begins Sunday. "I cannot predict what kind of emotions I am goi

Iga Swiatek's second consecutive season-ending No. 1 ranking helped her collect a second consecutive WTA Player of the Year award, making her the first woman since Serena Williams to claim that honor twice in a row. Williams, who retired last year, was the WTA Player of the Year every season from 2012-15, the final four of the seven total times the American claimed that award. Swiatek went 68-11 in 2023 with a tour-leading six titles, including at the French Open in June. That was Swiatek's third championship at Roland Garros and fourth overall at a Grand Slam tournament. The 22-year-old from Poland wrapped up the season with an undefeated run at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, last month, which allowed her to overtake Aryna Sabalenka atop the rankings. Swiatek held the No. 1 spot from April 2022 until this September, before regaining it to close the year. In other WTA awards announced Monday, Zheng Qinwen of China was the Most Improved Player of the Year, Mirra Andreeva of Russi

Based on the reactions on social media, it seems everyone in the world of tennis was riveted by Novak Djokovic's victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the last tournament for both ahead of the U.S. Open. It was a titanic, 3-hour-plus showdown between the two titans of the men's game at the moment the third time they've played each other in Djokovic's past three events, each on a different surface and set the stage for what will be an expected meeting to determine the champion at Flushing Meadows, where play begins Monday and finishes on Sept. 10. Last weekend's contest at the hard-court Cincinnati Masters, in which Djokovic, who is 36, saved a championship point in the second set and Alcaraz, who is 20, saved four in the third before succumbing 5-7, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4), also served to symbolize the state of change the sport currently finds itself in, a year removed from Serena Williams' farewell match in New York and Roger Federer's retirement announcement soon ...

Tennis legend Serena Williams believes that Hollywood star Will Smith should be forgiven for the "mistake" of slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars last year

The 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams said she has not retired from tennis yet and that the chances of her returning to the court are "very high"

Serena Williams, you might have heard, played what's expected to be her last match at the U.S. Open. Rafael Nadal lost in the fourth round. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer (more on them later) weren't even in the tournament. Those four players dominated, and were the main draws, in tennis for decades, collecting a total of 86 Grand Slam singles titles, each with at least 20. And so, as the quarterfinals began at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday without any member of that quartet present, it made sense to ask: Is this the end of an era? The 36-year-old Nadal sounded a philosophical note about the topic after he was bounced by 24-year-old American Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Monday. "Some depart, others come and the world keeps going. It's a natural cycle," said Nadal, who noted that his wife is pregnant with their first child and so he isn't sure when he will play next. "It's always the same. The same one have been up there several years; others are coming and we will be leavin

Williams lost to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic in three sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York on Friday

Serena and Venus Williams traded fist bumps or palm slaps and chatted between points. They smiled while conversing in their seats at changeovers. When their first doubles match together in 4 1/2 years ended with a loss at the U.S Open on Thursday night, the siblings hugged each other, then left the court to a standing ovation. The Williams sisters were eliminated by the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova 7-6 (5), 6-4 at Flushing Meadows. "I was speechless when I found out I'm going to face these two. I mean, they're legends. And I was always such a big fan of them, especially Serena. She has been my idol since ever, probably," said Noskova, a 17-year-old making her Grand Slam debut in doubles. "So I was really happy, excited, but kind of scared, to face them." Arthur Ashe Stadium had never hosted a first-round doubles match for women or men, during the night or day until this one featuring two members of one family who have combined to claim 14 Grand Slam titles in .

Serena Williams can call it evolving or retiring or whatever she wants. And she can be coy about whether or not this U.S. Open will actually mark the end of her playing days. Those 23 Grand Slam titles earned that right. If she keeps playing like this, who knows how long this farewell will last? No matter what happens once her trip to Flushing Meadows is over, here is what is important to know after Wednesday night: The 40-year-old Williams is still around, she's still capable of terrific tennis, she's still winning and, like the adoring spectators whose roars filled Arthur Ashe Stadium again she's ready for more. Williams eliminated No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2 in the U.S. Open's second round to ensure that she will play at least one more singles match at what she's hinted will be the last tournament of her illustrious career. There's still a little left in me, Williams said with a smile during her on-court interview, then acknowledged during her post-match news

Williams defeated World No.2 Anett Kontaveit 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-2 on Wednesday before another raucous, rollicking record crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium

The welcome and support for Venus Williams in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday afternoon were not the same as they were for her sister, Serena, a night earlier. Nor was the result. Venus, who turned 42 in June, has not made any pronouncements about her future in tennis, unlike her younger sibling, and while she has been successful and influential, too a seven-time Grand Slam champion; a Black woman in a predominantly white sport the fanfare and attention are not the same. Playing in front of thousands of empty blue seats in an arena quite silent at the start, although growing louder later, Venus bowed out in the first round of the U.S. Open for the second consecutive appearance, losing 6-1, 7-6 (5) to Alison Van Uytvanck. She means so much to female tennis. Tennis, in general, Van Uytvanck said. She's a legend. This was the 23rd trip to Flushing Meadows for Venus, who made it to the final in 1997 as a teen then won the trophy in 2000 and 2001, and her record 91st time participating

The audience was the biggest ever for the first day of the tournament, according to ESPN

They came from far and wide for Serena no last name required, befitting someone as much an icon as superstar athlete to see her practice and play and, it turned out, win a match at the U.S. Open, turning out in record numbers to fill Arthur Ashe Stadium and shout and applaud and pump their fists right along with her. Serena Williams is not ready to say goodbye just yet. Nor, clearly, are her fans. And she heard them, loud and clear. In her first match at what is expected to be the last U.S. Open and last tournament of her remarkable playing career, even if she insists that she won't quite say so, Williams overcame a shaky start to overpower Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-3 amid an atmosphere more akin to a festival than a farewell. What memory will stick with her the most from the evening? When I walked out, the reception was really overwhelming. It was loud and I could feel it in my chest. It was a really good feeling, said the owner of six U.S. Open championships and 23 Grand Slam titl

In 2016, responding to the fatal police shootings of two Black men just a day apart, Serena Williams joined a small chorus of top Black athletes in speaking out. I won't be silent! she vowed. Have we not gone through enough, opened so many doors, impacted billions of lives? Williams asked in a Facebook post in the wake of the back-to-back killings of Philando Castile just outside St. Paul, Minnesota, and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I realized we must stride on for it's not how far we have come but how much further still we have to go, she wrote. That wasn't the only time Williams would wade into the politically thorny topic. It's an outspokenness for which other Black athletes, from Muhammad Ali to Colin Kaepernick, have paid a steep professional price. After nearly three decades in the public eye, few can match Williams' array of accomplishments, medals and awards. Through it all, the 23-time Grand Slam title winner hasn't let the public forget that she's a Black ..

Retiring legend Serena Williams has indicated she "will always have some sort of involvement" in tennis as she prepares for the US Open, in what will be the final Grand Slam of her career

A couple of days before Serena Williams claimed the 22nd of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon in 2016, she was asked what she makes of it

Serena Williams said it plainly: It isn't really fair. A male athlete would never have to make the same choice

Serena Williams says she is ready to step away from tennis after winning 23 Grand Slam titles, turning her focus to having another child and her business interests. "I'm turning 41 this month, and something's got to give," Williams wrote in an essay released Tuesday by Vogue magazine. Williams said she does not like the word retirement and prefers to think of this stage of her life as "evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me." Williams is playing this week in Toronto, at a hard-court tournament that leads into the U.S. Open, the year's last Grand Slam event, which begins in New York on Aug. 29. The American has won more Grand Slam singles titles in the professional era than any other woman or man. Only one player, Margaret Court, collected more, 24, although she won a portion of hers in the amateur era.

She picked up her first victory since the 2021 French Open on Monday, beating Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3, 6-4 at the women's National Bank Open