- Serena Williams announced her intention to retire from professional tennis in early August.
- In speaking on Meghan Markle's podcast, Williams said she consulted Prince Harry about her decision.
Serena Williams is saying goodbye to tennis.
And she consulted a somewhat surprising source before solidifying her decision to retire.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion spoke with Prince Harry — the husband of her close friend, Meghan Markle — at length while mulling over whether or not to conclude her illustrious professional career. During the first episode of Markle's new podcast, "Archetypes," Williams revealed that Markle and Harry were two of her confidants as she considered her future.
"You knew about it for a long time, and I talked with Harry about it a lot as well," Williams said.
"I remember that day you were here at the house," Markle added. "And I was like, 'What are you two just chatting about?' It must've been a solid, like, an hour."
Markle and Harry, of course, are intimately familiar with the challenges of walking away from a role that has defined them. The couple publicly announced that they chose to step away from the royal family in January 2020 and subsequently left England to take up residence in various parts of North America.
Given Harry's experience with a similar dilemma to hers, Williams said that the Queen's grandson "was trying to knock some sense into me" during their aforementioned conversation.
"The three of us really know that sometimes the right decision isn't the easiest decision," Markle said. "It's the hard decision. And it takes a lot of thought and a lot of counsel and a lot of support to just go 'uh, uh, uh' and then just make the choice.
"The worst place to be is on the fence, as you know," Williams added. "So it's like, make a decision: Either be in it or be out of it. And I was on the fence for a while because I love what I do."
Williams also noted that it was an even more difficult choice considering "my whole life has been one thing."
"I've been doing this my entire existence," she said. "Even before I was born, it was what I was meant to do and what I was supposed to do and what was chosen for me."
The tennis great thanked her friend-turned-podcast-host for acting as a sounding board through one of the toughest choices she's ever faced. She said she sent Markle and Prince Harry a sneak peek of the Vogue article announcing her retirement because "I wanted you to understand what it meant to have your support and for H's support — for everything."
Williams begins what will likely be the final tournament of her professional career Monday in New York City, where she'll face Montenegro's Danka Kovinić in the opening round of the 2022 US Open.