Sue Bird is making the most of her retirement 'downtime,' prompting 'a lot of jealousy' from her not-yet-retired fiancée, Megan Rapinoe
- Sue Bird is "really relaxing" and making the most of her retirement after 19 seasons in the WNBA.
- Her fiancée, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, is still playing on the USWNT and with the NWSL's OL Reign.
Sue Bird is making the most of her retirement.
After 19 seasons competing at the highest levels of women's basketball and winning four championships with the WNBA's Seattle Storm, the legendary point guard opted to hang up her sneakers for the last time. And ever since her last season with the Storm ended back in September 2022, she has "really tried to just do nothing" and "just kinda chill, enjoy it."
"It's been great," Bird told Insider. "Really enjoyable kinda doing what I wanna do when I wanna do it."
"Those couple months right after the season ended, so fresh in retirement, I kinda realized — and a lot of people gave me this advice — but I started to realize that, this time, I'll never get this back," the 42-year-old star added. "There's only one time where you get to truly enjoy this type of downtime, as you enter retirement."
She's taking full advantage. But for Megan Rapinoe — her not-yet-retired fiancée — Bird's newly relaxed lifestyle is "bringing up a lot of jealousy."
The US Women's National Team and OL Reign superstar, who is five years younger than her future wife, is gearing up for the 2023 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) season out in Seattle. And as she spoke to reporters for her club's media day on Monday, Rapinoe reported that Bird was actually off enjoying herself in Hawaii.
"I'm like, 'I'm sorry, are you getting paid to go to Hawaii? What's happening? Is this what it's gonna be like?'" the two-time World Cup champion said, then turned to her teammates and joked: "Have fun this year, you guys. Actually, it turns out I'm not coming back. Just kidding!"
Not only is the pink-haired forward preparing for a full campaign with OL Reign — who advanced to the semifinals of last year's NWSL playoffs — but she's also in contention for a spot on the USWNT's roster for this summer's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Maintaining her physical and mental fitness for a full year of top-tier competition takes plenty of hard work. And while Bird — a five-time Olympic gold medalist in her own right — is plenty familiar with that level of commitment, she's very much enjoying her newfound flexibility to hit snooze or skip out on a day of exercise.
"Listen, I take a lot of days off, which wasn't always the case," she told Insider with a smile. "It's been really good, really relaxing."
Rapinoe agrees "it's been really nice" — for Bird.
"Sometimes when she's like, 'I just don't feel like doing my workout today, so I'm not going to' I'm like, 'OK,'" Rapinoe deadpanned at media day. "'I'll do mine. Great. I'll be back.'"