TORONTO, Canada —
Serena Williams, who said
this week she will soon call time on her storied tennis career, departed the
WTA Toronto Masters for the last time Wednesday with a 6–2, 6–4 loss to Belinda
Bencic.
اضافة اعلان
The second-round defeat by Switzerland’s reigning
Olympic gold medallist was hardly unexpected, with the 40-year-old Williams
competing in only her third match of 2022.
Bencic fired eight aces and broke Williams twice in
the first set and once in the second, advancing on her first match point after
78 minutes.
But as Bencic herself said in the post-match
interview on court: “Tonight is about her.”
Williams’s farewell on-court interview was threaded
with emotion.
“I love playing here, I’ve always loved playing
here,” she said, choking up as fans who cheered her throughout the match called
out their appreciation.
“I wish I could have played better tonight, but
Belinda was playing so well.”
Williams, who turns 41 next month, had beaten
Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Diaz on Monday for her first singles victory since the
2021 French Open, 14 months ago.
But it sent shockwaves through the sport when she
revealed in an essay in Vogue magazine and an Instagram post on Tuesday that
“the countdown has begun” to her retirement from the sport.
Williams didn’t specify an actual retirement date
but is expected to compete next week in Cincinnati before travelling to the
US Open, which starts on August 29.
She has lifted the US Open title six times,
including her first Grand Slam triumph at the age of 17 in 1999.
“It’s been a pretty interesting 24 hours,” said
Williams, who remains one shy of the all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles
titles won by Margaret Court.
“Like I said in my article, I’m terrible at
goodbyes,” she said, her voice breaking.
“But, goodbye,” she said, then adding with a laugh
“Toronto.”
‘A joy playing here’
“It’s been a joy playing here all of those years.”
Bencic said the
occasion was “Overwhelming.”
Williams’s match
was preceded by a video tribute played for fans. Before she left the court she
was presented with jerseys from the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and NHL’s Toronto
Maple Leafs — and with a child’s version of the same for daughter Olympia.
In explaining that
she was “evolving away” from tennis in the Vogue article, Williams said she
wanted to focus on family life and new business ventures.
Bencic said the
occasion was “really overwhelming”.
“It definitely
felt very special to be on court with her today again,” she said “For me it was
great, great, opportunity.”
Williams’s
appearance highlighted a day that saw US teenager Coco Gauff — who says
Williams was “the reason why I play tennis” — overcome 13 double-faults to
battle past Wimbledon champion
Elena Rybakina and into the third round.
Gauff beat
Rybakina 6–4, 6–7 (8/10), 7–6 (7/3) while world number one Iga Swiatek — who
beat Gauff in the French Open final this year — sailed past Australian Ajla
Tomljanovic 6–1, 6–2 in 55 minutes.
Swiatek, 21, said
she was “pretty sad” that she’s never had a chance to play Williams, even if in
the American’s heyday “I would probably be the player that loses in the
quarter-final against her.”
The Polish player
has won six titles this year, and when she lost in the third round at Wimbledon
it ended a 37-match unbeaten run.
But she’s not sure
she will ever scale the kind of heights reached by Williams.
“Being able to
kind of do business and tennis at the same time, but also be a mother and play
well and do four Grand Slam finals, it’s amazing,” Swiatek said. “I think
nobody is going to repeat that. I would be happy to have that belief that maybe
I can do that.”
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