-We have a lot to get into.
First of all, your evolution from the game of --
or evolution of life from the game of tennis.
-Evolution, yeah. -Not retirement.
-No, 'cause -- You know what? 'Cause I always feel like --
I think retirement is something that's super earned
and that people work really hard for.
And -- [ Chuckles ] Maybe I haven't worked hard enough.
But I just feel like I'm at an age
where I definitely have a lot more to give,
and there's a lot more that I want to do.
And so I'm not gonna be relaxing.
There's so much more for me, and --
-Yeah.
-I feel it's more of like an evolution of Serena.
And there's -- there's so many things
that I've been wanting to do for so many years.
And I have such a passion for tennis for so long
that I have never done it, but now it's time for me
to, like, start to enjoy those things.
-When did you -- When did you know --
[ Cheers and applause ]
You should enjoy it. -I should.
It's hard. It's a little hard. -You worked too hard. I know.
It's a difficult choice, probably,
because you're going, "Well, this is my thing.
I've worked so hard for this."
But it's also very brave of you to stop and be like,
"No, I have other things I want to do.
I have things to offer." -Yeah.
-When did you know? When did you go like, "This is it.
I've talked to my husband. I've talked to my friends..."
Who knew? Can you tell us who knew?
-Um, well, in the beginning,
I literally couldn't tell anyone.
And I write about it in the magazine, in "Vogue."
I just say the only person that knew at one point
was my therapist 'cause I was just --
'Cause verbalizing it meant that it was real.
-Wow. -And I'm like,
"I don't want it to be real."
So, you know, I wasn't quite sure, like,
where I was gonna -- what I was gonna do.
And I don't think you really know until --
I don't know --
until you say it or until it's actually real.
And then -- It's so funny. When everything came out,
I thought -- The whole time I was stressed out,
I thought I was gonna be really miserable
and just scared of this whole article coming out,
'cause it was a lot on me.
You have to think. I've been playing tennis
since, um -- since I was literally in a stroller.
And there's a picture of Venus pushing me in a stroller.
And that's how long I've been around tennis.
And for me to suddenly, like, have to be done, it was like,
okay, well, you know, this is a big thing.
But anyway, when it came out, I was actually relieved,
and I didn't expect to feel that way.
I felt good. -You were relieved?
-Yes. I felt pretty good.
And then, um, yeah, I was like, "Okay, yeah."
It's like -- when you want to accomplish something
and you don't do it, but then when you finally do it,
it's like, "Oh, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was."
-Yeah. -You know?
And that's kind of what it was like.
I should have done it ten years ago! I'm just kidding.
-No, no. That's not what we're saying.
So there's no chance of you pulling a Tom Brady
and maybe saying, "You know what? Maybe I'm not ready.
I'm evolving into a -- coming back. Pickleball."
-You know what? Tom --
[ Laughter ]
You know what? Tom Brady started an amazing trend.
[ Laughter ]
-Yes. He started an amazing trend.
-That's what I'm gonna say. -That's all you're gonna say.
That's very smart.
I read somewhere that you're not good at saying goodbyes.
-No, no.
-So you don't really want to make a big fanfare like --
"Bye, everyone. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye."
-No. I always thought that, you know,
at the end of it I would just, um --
just leave quietly and just, like, not say anything
and just make an announcement, like,
on social media or something. That's how I always thought.
That's how I always envisioned it.
-You thought you were gonna sneak away?
-Yeah. -Like, "Oh, by the way.
Bye." Yeah, right.
-Yeah, you know. -Are you like that at a party?
Like, if I have you at my party, will you leave and not tell me?
-Yeah, I mean, if it's not -- [ Laughter ]
If it's not happening, if you're not playing the right music
and I'm not dancing, I'm out of there.
-I'm playing the right -- Really?
Not even the -- You just go like, "I'll be right back"?
Or do you, like -- -Well, I've done that
actually on a date once.
I --
-On a date once? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-What are you talking about?
-Well, I was not having a great --
It was years ago, obviously.
But I was not having a great date,
and so I just went to the bathroom.
-And never came back?
[ Sad tuba plays ]
And never came back?!
-I've yet to go back.
-Oh, my goodness. No way.
-It was fun. I was young. -Yeah.
-No need to waste time. I can't waste time.
-When I saw you at Wimbledon in London, did you know?
That you were gonna -- -Yeah, I did, I did.
And it was -- I was heavy. Like, I was heavy for months.
-Yeah. -You know, and I don't know
if you knew my energy, but I was just so heavy,
and I just wasn't even rocking out the way I wanted
to rock out. I was just sitting there.
But, literally, when it came out, like,
all this stuff just got released,
and I just felt better.
-I'm so happy. There's so many things.
I want to talk about what's next for you.
But Serena Ventures. Is that -- -Yeah.
-I mean, that's already crushing it.
-Yeah, and you know a lot about the investing world,
but I've been investing for --
This is my tenth year of doing it now.
So we finally took outside capital,
and we raised a lot of money, and we invested in lots of women
and lots people of color, and just literally everyone.
Everyone has a seat at our table.
And so that's what we want to see more in the investing world,
is, like, giving everyone an opportunity
and really just investing in founders, you know?
And just -- So that's kind of --
That's the mission that we started,
and we're keeping it up. -You're crushing it.
You're doing a great job with that.
I love that, and it's doing really well.
-Thank you. Thank you.
-It's very hard to get that off the ground. You've done it.
But let's talk about "The Adventures of Qai Qai."
This is very, very cute. -Qai Qai.
-I love children's books. And I have two little girls.
So they're gonna love this.
Basically it's about a girl who has her doll, Qai Qai,
and she talks to the doll and is like,
"I get nervous about doing a performance."
And the doll talks her through it.
And then she's like, "Do you want to come out with me?"
And spoiler alert -- she's like,
"I'm not allowed to bring the doll.
I have to do it myself."
And the strength was in her the whole time.
-I'm proud of you for reading it.
-Of course I read it. Are you kidding me?
-I was gonna quiz you. And now I don't have to quiz you.
-No, I love the book. Believe in yourself.
Believe it and do it, and you can do anything.
-That's right, and that's what --
"The Adventures of Qai Qai" is all about that.
You can do anything. -You can do anything.
-Yes. [ Cheers and applause ]
-You guys, "The Adventures of Qai Qai."
Serena Williams, everybody! -Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ] -September 27th.
We'll be right back with Justin Long, everybody.
Stick around.