NEW YORK, Aug 9 — Serena Williams went from learning tennis on public courts in a notorious American gangland neighbourhood to becoming a superstar for a generation and perhaps the greatest player in history.

The 40-year-old legend declared Tuesday on Instagram the "countdown has begun” to her retirement after a Vogue magazine story talking about how bad she is at saying goodbye.

Serena became an African-American icon in a white-dominated sport, winning 23 Grand Slam titles and smashing aside milestones with a determination as powerful as the raw energy that defines her shotmaking magic.

Serena and sister Venus, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, were executive producers on the movie King Richard that told the Hollywood fairy-tale of them being taught tennis by father Richard Williams while growing up on the tough streets of Compton, California.

"I am still just that girl with the racquet and a dream and I’m just playing for that,” Williams said after a 2013 US Open title.

She wound up living the dream as Serena has won seven Australian Open titles, three French Opens, seven Wimbledon crowns and six US Opens and stands one shy of matching the all-time record for Slam singles titles set by Margaret Court.

She won her first Grand Slam title at the 1999 US Open at age 17 and in 2017 captured her 23rd and most recent major title at the Australian Open while pregnant with daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian.

She gave birth to Olympia in September 2017 and spent six weeks bedridden after a pulmonary embolism, but battled back to make her return to competition five months later in Fed Cup doubles alongside Venus.

Williams, whose husband is Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, has twice completed a "Serena Slam” by winning all four major titles in a row. She did it in 2002-2003 starting with the 2002 French Open and again in 2014-15 starting with the 2014 US Open.

She had a chance to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2015 but was upset by Italy’s Roberta Vinci in the US Open semi-finals.

"I never really want to focus on the numbers,” Williams said. "I started playing tennis not to be the greatest but just because I had a racquet and a dream. Now people are saying I could be (the greatest), but for me, I’m just not there yet.

"People like Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, they are just, to me, the ultimate icons in the history of women’s tennis.”

Williams brought a style and power to her game, at times her fashion designs distracting from her dazzling on-court efforts.

She won the most recent of her 73 career WTA titles in January 2020 at the Auckland Open, her only crown as a mother.

Four times Williams had a chance to equal Court’s all-time record but lost in the 2018 and 2019 finals at both Wimbledon and the US Open.

Struggles and setbacks

She battled through struggles as well. Serena’s half-sister, Yetunde Price, was fatally shot in 2003 at age 31 by a gang member in their hometown of Compton. She had been Serena’s personal assistant.

After Williams cut her foot at a German restaurant days following her 2010 Wimbledon triumph, she needed two surgeries and spent 20 weeks in a walking cast, a situation she blamed for causing blood clots in her lungs in 2011 that threatened her life. She missed three major events and was out almost a year.

"(Doctors) said I had clots in both lungs. A lot of people die from that because you don’t recognize it,” Williams said in 2011.

"I couldn’t breathe, I honestly just thought I was out of shape. A couple more days and it would not have been good. It could have possibly been career-ending.

"Being at the top of your game, having to have something like that happen randomly was tough, and it really makes me appreciate things.”

Williams credited her success to the work by her father and stuck by him even after her parents split up.

"I wouldn’t have won a single title without him and without his backing,” said Williams. "He’s a great coach. He’s just so innovative.

"He built my game and my sister’s game. He gave us a good foundation. It was solid and it wasn’t weak, so we were always able to grow our game.”

Richard Williams would let other children taunt his daughters as they practiced.

"In order to be successful you must prepare for the unexpected — and I wanted to prepare for that,” he told CNN in 2015. "Criticism can bring the best out of you.” — AFP