Serena Williams U.S. Open odds: Retiring legend a longshot to win record seventh title

We now have the top storyline for the upcoming U.S. Open in New York, the final tennis Grand Slam tournament of the year: Serena Williams, likely the greatest women's tennis player of all time, announced in a magazine article released today that she would be retiring after the tournament. The tournament begins Aug. 29. Williams is a +1600 longer shot at Caesars Sportsbook to win it for a seventh time, which would break a tie with Chris Evert for the most U.S. Open wins in the Open Era.

"It's the hardest thing that I could ever imagine. …. I don't want it to be over, but at the same time, I'm ready for what's next," Williams said of her retirement in a cover story for Vogue. "I'm evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me."

Williams wants to spend more time with her husband, Alexis, and their 5-year-old daughter, Olympia, and she revealed that the couple is trying to have another child in the near future.

Serena has won 23 Grand Slam titles, one behind Margaret Court for the most in history. The 40-year-old Williams (41 next month) hasn't won a Slam since the 2017 Australian Open when she was a few months pregnant.

Her last U.S. Open title came in 2014, and she didn't play last year. Serena has reached at least the semifinals in every U.S. Open she has played since 2008. Her lone Slam played this year was at Wimbledon when she was eliminated in the first round. The former world No. 1 was sidelined for nearly a year with a torn hamstring, sustained at Wimbledon in 2021.

"There are people who say I'm not the GOAT because I didn't pass Margaret Court's record of 24 grand slam titles, which she achieved before the ''open era'' that began in 1968," Serena wrote. 'I'd be lying if I said I didn't want that record. Obviously I do. But day to day, I'm really not thinking about her. If I'm in a grand slam final, then yes, I am thinking about that record. Maybe I thought about it too much, and that didn't help."

Williams is currently playing in the Canadian Open (which she has won three times) in Toronto and on Monday beat Spain's Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3, 6-4 for her first victory in more than 14 months. Williams had lost the only two matches she'd played in that span and is now ranked No. 407 in the world. Serena became the fourth woman since 2000 to win a WTA-level main draw match after turning 40, along with Martina Navratilova, Kimiko Date Krumm and her sister Venus Williams.

Which Fantasy Football sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Join SportsLine now to get Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Jonathan Taylor's huge season, and find out.