Tennis great Serena Williams is recovering from surgery to remove a large cyst from her neck; Watch all the ATP and WTA action on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+ which is integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app
Wednesday 16 October 2024 16:32, UK
Serena Williams has had a benign branchial cyst "the size of a small grapefruit" removed from her neck and says "all is OK".
The retired tennis star, who turned 43 last month, posted on social media that she found a lump on her neck in May.
Williams said she had an MRI exam and was told she did not need to get the cyst removed if she did not want to.
"So I did not get it [removed] but it kept growing," she wrote.
After more tests - including a biopsy that was negative for cancer, Williams said - her doctors advised she should have a procedure.
She posted a video of herself in a hospital bed and wrote: "So this is me removing it. I am feeling so grateful, and fortunate everything worked out, and most of all I'm healthy."
In a separate social media post, she said she is "still recovering, but getting better. Health always comes first."
Williams announced her retirement - famously eschewing that term and saying instead she was "evolving" away from professional tennis - shortly before playing in the 2022 US Open, her last tournament.
She won 23 Grand Slam titles in singles, the most by a woman in the sport's professional era, and another 14 in doubles with her older sister Venus.
Serena Williams spent more than 300 weeks at No 1 in the WTA rankings and collected four Olympic gold medals.
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