With 23 career grand slams under her belt, Serena Williams is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in the history of tennis. And on Monday, reports emerged that Williams will use her expertise in the sport in producing a new tennis-themed drama series picked up by Netflix.
The series, according to a report from Deadline Co-Editor-in-Chief Nellie Andreeve on Monday, is based on a tennis-themed novel written by Taylor Jenkins Reid under the same name, Carrie Soto Is Back. Williams will serve as an executive producer on the project alongside Reid and Caroline Currier.
Interestingly, Reid outlined in a 2022 interview upon the release of the novel how her work was partly inspired by the illustrious careers of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena Williams.
“My incredible respect for the Williams sisters is part of what makes me interested in tennis,” Reid said. “I wouldn’t write a book about tennis without the influence of just the absolute glory that has been their journey, but also specifically Serena’s quest to get as many Grand Slam titles as she has managed to do.”
Since her retirement from professional tennis after the 2022 U.S. Open, Williams has remained quite active in the world of sports, holding ownership stakes in Angel City FC of the NWSL, the Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Golf Club in TGL, and the new expansion team in the WNBA, the Toronto Tempo, who are set to join the league in 2026.
Additionally, Williams does have experience as a producer in sports-related projects in the past, co-producing the 2023 documentary Copa 71 about the 1971 Women’s World Cup and an eight-part ESPN+ original docuseries, In the Arena: Serena Williams, and a 2021 Amazon docuseries into her upbringing.
This new project involving Williams will be a way to let her further tell inspirations of her story as a tennis star, just in a more indirect way. And considering the kind of attention she has garnered over the course of her career, similar fanfare should help bring eyeballs to Carrie Soto Is Back whenever a release date is announced.
