Serena Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, said on Wednesday that she had a grapefruit-sized cyst removed from her neck and is doing well while recovering. The 43-year-old former women’s tennis world number one revealed in a TikTok video that she discovered a bump on the right side of her neck in May and underwent an MRI, which revealed a brachial cyst. “I’m still healing but getting better. “Health always comes first,” wrote Williams on X.
Williams did not have the cyst removed right away, but when it expanded in size and she had several tests and a biopsy, she had surgery to remove it. I noticed this large tumor on my neck. “I was mortified by it,” she says in the video. “I completed testing. Everything imaginable. Everything was bad. It turned out I had a cyst, namely a brachial cyst.
“So, I had to have it removed. It was really large. It was the size of a grapefruit and it ached to get out.” “They had to insert a drain in it because it was extremely painful but everything worked out and I feel very fortunate to have worked with some great doctors.”I’m a little nervous here, but I’m excited to go on to the next stages of healing and recovery.
The video ended with Williams and her daughter Olympia on a planned shopping excursion after the operation. “I’m feeling so grateful and fortunate; everything worked out, and most importantly, I’m healthy,” Williams wrote in the video’s caption. “I did make it to American doll with Olympia, as promised.
“And yes all is ok.”
Williams’ first Grand Slam triumph was at the 1999 US Open, and her last was at the 2017 Australian Open. She won seven Australian Opens, seven Wimbledon Championships, six US Opens, and three French Open trophies before retiring after the 2022 US Open.