Welcome to Athletic Interest.
This week Serena Williams announced her plans to retire from professional tennis.
This shocked many in the tennis community, especially those holding tickets for her rumoured final appearance at the upcoming U.S. Open who are now attempting to re-sell $35 tickets for $7,000.
This dramatic hike in ticket prices is not surprising. Serena is one of the true greats of modern sport.
Just look at her career achievements.
24 grand slam singles titles (1 behind all-time leader Margaret Court.)
Joint record 186 weeks as the no.1 seed.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist (1 singles and 3 doubles)
Highest prize money earnings in Women’s tennis ($94 million.)
In terms of impact, both off and on the court, Serena is practically unmatched and this retirement is the end of an important era for tennis.
While our days of watching Serena grace the courts are numbered, don’t expect her to fall away from public life anytime soon.
In fact, Serena hates the word ‘retirement.’
'It doesn't feel like a modern word to me. I've been thinking of this as a transition,’ she explained in her Vogue article announcing the decision.
'Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution,' she continued. 'I'm here to tell you that I'm evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.'
Adding to her family with Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian is something that Serena has decided to focus on right now, alongside her burgeoning venture capital career.
As she did in tennis, Serena has a mission for her investments. Namely, increasing the amount of money that goes to female and minority-led companies.
'A few years ago, I was at a conference organized by JPMorgan Chase, where I watched a talk between Jamie Dimon and Caryn Seidman-Becker, the CEO of the security company Clear,' Williams wrote in her Vogue article.
'Caryn explained that less than 2 percent of all VC money went to women. I figured that she misspoke. I thought, There's no way that 98 percent of that capital is going to men. I approached her afterward, and she confirmed it. I kind of understood then and there that someone who looks like me needs to start writing the big checks.'
While tennis fans will be disappointed to see Serena leave the sport, those interested in investing should be excited to see what she can do in the next evolution of her career.
🎾 On the topic of retiring tennis players… Five years ago, a young man named Zizou stood up in a press conference and asked Roger Federer to hold off his retirement until the two had the opportunity to play each other.
Fast forward five years and - with the help of a pasta company - dreams are coming true…
🏎 We interrupt our normal mix of heartwarming and insightful news to bring you some utter chaos.
In the last newsletter, we wrote about a contract dispute between Oscar Piastri and the Alpine F1 team. Well, in the last few days things have started to bubble over.
Team boss Otmar Szafnauer has criticised Piastri’s decision to reject Alpine adding that he will likely seek compensation through the High Court in London.
"We spent a lot, a lot of money on Piastri to prepare him for the future. And if that future is not given to us, it is logical and fair that we demand compensation," explained Szafnauer.
With no public knowledge of the arguments of each side, it is impossible to know if Alpine will be successful. The one thing that is certain is that Piastri will not be driving for Alpine next year.
Current Mclaren driver Ricciardo also faces an awkward wait to see if he will be replaced by Piastri. The only people who probably welcome this extra excitement are the F1 fans…and the producers of Drive to Survive 🤑.
👕 Off-White - the luxury Italian fashion label founded by late American designer Virgil Abloh - is set to sign a deal to become AC Milan’s new style partner.
The fashion brand - which has previously collaborated with Nike, Ikea, and Evian - will take over the design and production of the club’s formal wear (the suits players wear before matches) and some off-pitch clothing.
This deal continues AC Milan’s tradition of collaborating with contemporary fashion after their deal with Napolitano firm Harmont & Blaine ended recently.
Football and fashion haven’t always made a perfect mix, but recent trends - from Venezia and their fashionable jerseys to Gucci’s partnership with Jack Grealish - show that these two powerhouses of culture have started to embrace each other’s qualities.
With football - both in terms of the fans and the players - becoming more affluent, fashion brands see an opportunity to engage with a new audience.
For football teams, close links with high fashion is a great way to boost brand appeal worldwide. Not forgetting that slapping a designer logo on merchandise also allows them to double or even triple prices.
🤬 From colorful fashion to colorful language.
With a new club comes new traditions. At Dortmund Erling Haaland was well known for his straightforward answers to interview questions, but at Man City it seems like Haaland is taking a slightly different approach…
📹 Have you ever wondered why so many sports teams wear red?
People often assume it’s just tradition or a lack of creativity, but what if we told you that wearing the colour red could be the defining factor between winning and losing (all Manchester-based examples aside.)
Watch our latest video breaking down the power of color in sports.