Serena Williams Reveals She Had a Cyst the ‘Size of a Small Grapefruit’ Removed from Her Neck

Serena Williams is sharing details about a recent health scare.

On Tuesday, Oct. 15, the professional tennis player, 43, revealed in a TikTok video that she had a benign cyst the size of a “small grapefruit” removed from her neck.

In the caption of the post, she wrote that she found the lump in May and went to see her doctor, who ordered an MRI test. The test showed Williams had a branchial cyst. 

“They said I don’t need to get it removed if I don’t want. So I did not get it but it kept growing,” she continued. “I decided to get more test[s] and 3 test[s] and one biopsy later everything is still negative but doctors advised I get it removed asap because it was the size of a small grapefruit and it could get infected or worse leak.”

She continued to share that she is feeling grateful and “so fortunate everything worked out, and most of all I’m healthy,” before noting that “all is okay.”

The short video showed Williams in the hospital after the procedure, as well as a family trip to the American Doll store afterwards.

In a voiceover, she said, “Hey, so a lot has been happening. I had surgery recently where I had to take some yucky medicine that I hated so much.”

Williams continued to detail her discovery of the cyst, saying she was “mortified by it.”

While documenting some of her time in the hospital, the mother of two shared, “I went under 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.” 

She then showed herself leaving the hospital in a pink hoodie, saying that the removal of the cyst was “successful” and her medicine is working. 

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), she wrote that she is “still recovering, but getting better. Health always comes first.”

In September, Williams, who has two children, Adira, 13 months, and Olympia, 7, with her husband, Alexis Ohanian, opened up about giving birth to her youngest via a C-section.

“Looking back, I’ll never have that moment again. For whatever weird reason, that kind of makes me a little sad, but that’s probably a party of one,” she said of giving birth to Olympia.

“This time I went in with a plan,” Serena continued. “I like to say I put my best effort out there, and this was no different. I literally thought about it as a Grand Slam: ‘How can I succeed?’ ”