Serena Williams: the tennis star’s career - in pictures

Serena Williams is heading off into retirement after a 27-year professional tennis career that brought 23 grand slam singles titles.

The 40-year-old American is “widely labelled as the greatest of all time”, said the BBC.

The world of tennis was quick to pay tribute to Williams. “Her incredible career made its mark on tennis history,” tweeted Billie Jean King, the former world No.1. Another US player, Coco Gauff, tweeted that “the impact you’ve had on me goes beyond any words that can be put together and for that I say thank you, thank you, thank you, GOAT!”

Writing in The Guardian, Afua Hirsch said that thanks to Williams and her sister Venus “I watched young black women excel in even the most hostile spaces on their own terms”.