Serena Williams reveals operation to remove ‘grapefruit-sized’ cyst
Source: TikTok
Tennis legend Serena Williams has revealed she is recovering after a serious health scare that has left her in hospital for days.
The 23-time grand slam singles champion shared details of the months-long scare on social media this week.
“A lot has been happening and I had surgery recently where I had to take some yucky medicine that I hated so much,” she said.
“One day back in May, I found this big mass on my neck. I was mortified by it and I got tests done – everything you can imagine. Everything was negative.”
Eventually, doctors diagnosed it as a benign branchial cyst.
“[They] said I don’t need to get it removed if I don’t want. So, I did not get it [removed] but it kept growing,” she said.
“I decided to get more tests and, three tests and one biopsy later, everything was still negative. But doctors advised I get it removed as soon as possible because it was the size of a small grapefruit and it could get infected, or worse, leak.”
Williams, who turned 43 in September, shared a video to TikTok of her post-operation recovery.
“So this is me removing it. I am feeling so grateful, and fortunate everything worked out, and most of all I’m healthy,” she said.
“Obviously I went under (general anaesthetic) for it, but they had to put a drain in it because it was so much.
“But everything worked out and I feel really happy to have worked with some great doctors. A little scared here but excited to move on to the next steps of healing and doing well.”
In a later post, she said she was “still recovering, but getting better. Health always comes first”.
The operation meant Williams missed last week’s Glamour Women of the Year awards in New York, where she was to be honoured as one of the magazine’s global women of the year.
Williams quit professional tennis in 2022, bowing out in the third round of the US Open to Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.
Her 23 grand slam singles titles are a record for a woman in the professional era, while she shares another 14 doubles titles with sister Venus.
She spent more than 300 weeks as world No.1 and has four Olympic gold medals.
Williams and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, share daughters Olympia, 7, and one-year-old Adira.
