"I knew about her plans but she’s my friend, I wasn’t gonna betray that trust" - Meghan Markle on Serena Williams' retirement from tennis

Meghan Markle has revealed that she knew about Serena Williams' retirement plans beforehand but could not talk openly about it.

Earlier this month, the 40-year-old announced that she would retire from tennis after the US Open in an article for Vogue.

Williams recently appeared on the first episode of Markle's podcast Archetypes, where the two talked about ambition. During the conversation, the Duchess of Sussex said that she knew about Williams' decision to retire much before it was announced and that she kept it a secret as the 23-time Grand Slam champion was her friend and could not betray her trust.

"Now, when we originally recorded this conversation, the news of Serena’s evolution away from tennis wasn’t yet public," Markle said. "I knew about her plans – as you’ll soon hear – but Serena and I couldn’t quite talk openly about it in this type of forum. She’s my friend, I wasn’t gonna betray that trust."

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"I've struggled with it for a while" - Serena Williams on her retirement plans

Serena Willians will bid goodbye to tennis at the 2022 US Open.

Speaking further on her retirement, Serena Williams stated that she has struggled with the news for a long time and said life without tennis would be "weird" as it has been her sole focus to date.

"It’s out. Well, you know, I've struggled with it for a while. I don't know. I was just saying to someone, I'm going to be crying at everything. And so don't think I'm sad. It's not sad tears. It’s just like. I don't know what to call them. You know, I like I cry at a, I look at a butterfly," she said.

"So but yeah, it's it's weird because you have to think about it. I've been doing this since I was, since I can remember. And I'm 40 years old now, so it's like my whole entire being and my whole entire life has been for one purpose. So to kind of not do that anymore, it's exciting, right?" she added.

Williams also said that she is looking forward to her retirement as she can wake up without having to worry about performing at a high level.

"I'm really looking forward to it. As you know, I'm honestly, I can't wait to wake up one day and literally never have to worry about performing on such a high level and, you know, you know, competing. And I've actually never felt that," Serena Williams said.

"I mean, I've had a baby and I stopped and I've had injuries, but there was always somewhere in the back of my mind that it's still a possibility. So for it to just be completely gone is, it's new territory for me. And I'm, like I said, I'm happy about it, but it's just also something that I've actually literally have never experienced in my life," she explained.