Serena Williams Clarifies 'I Am Not Retired' and Says Chances of Her Return are 'Very High'

COREY SIPKIN/AFP/Getty Serena Williams

The chances of Serena Williams making a return to the tennis court are "very high," according to the champion herself.

During an appearance at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, the 41-year-old athlete said she is "not retired," according to The SF Standard.

"The chances of me returning are very high," Williams continued. "You can come to my house and [see], I have a court."

Williams last played competitively in September during the US Open, where she received an emotional send-off after losing to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round.

Diego Souto/Quality Sport Images/Getty

RELATED: Serena Williams 'Just Needed to Stop' Playing Tennis, but Teases 'I Definitely Can Still Come Back'

The 23-time Grand Slam champion said she has since "jumped right into" other endeavors, including her investment company Serena Ventures. "I didn't even think about the whole retirement."

While she "still" hasn't "really thought about" retirement, Williams said a recent experience on the tennis court "felt very weird" after she realized she's no longer "playing for a competition."

"It was like the first day of the rest of my life, and so far, I am enjoying it. But I'm still trying to find that balance," Williams explained.

RELATED VIDEO: Serena Williams Thanks Sister Venus After Final Match: 'Wouldn't Be Serena If There Wasn't Venus'

Before the US Open in August, Williams made headlines in a Vogue essay in which she said she planned to step away from her nearly 27-years-long professional tennis career following the tournament.

"I have never liked the word retirement," Williams wrote in a first-person essay for the magazine.

"It doesn't feel like a modern word to me. I've been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution."

Williams continued, "I'm here to tell you that I'm evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me."

RELATED: Serena Williams Tells Fellow Tennis Great Roger Federer: 'Welcome to the Retirement Club'

And after the US Open, Williams made an appearance on Sept. 13 on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she was asked about her retirement.

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

Fallon, 48, questioned, "There's no chance of you pulling a Tom Brady?" referencing the Tampa Bay Buccaneer's brief retirement earlier this year. The tennis champ responded, "You know what? Tom Brady started an amazing trend."

"That's what I want to say," the athlete then laughed.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

After watching the interview, Serena's husband Alexis Ohanian jokingly called out Brady, 45, on Twitter for putting the idea in her head.

"Dude @TomBrady I'm trying to plan a family vacation over winter break here ...." he wrote.