Serena Williams wipes away a tear after playing her final match in Canada during the National Bank Open at Toronto's Sobeys Stadium on Aug. 10.John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
A straight-sets defeat was never going to be how Serena Williams envisioned saying goodbye to Canada, but with her professional career approaching “the light at the end of the tunnel,” as she put it earlier in the week, that’s how it unfolded in Toronto on Wednesday evening.
Given her competitive fire – one hallmark of a legendary career that has placed her alongside the likes of Michael Jordan, Tom Brady and others as some of the best to play their chosen sports – anything short of victory Sunday in the National Bank Open final would have fallen short of the very high standards she’s established for herself.
But greatest of all-time or not – no less an authority than Billie Jean King confirmed Williams’s status as such in a prematch tribute video – the greats are as susceptible as any other mortal to the ravages of the passing years. As Jordan’s forgettable foray as a Washington Wizard bears out, and maybe Brady will soon discover having unretired at 45, Father Time is still undefeated.
One GOAT who seemingly got out while the going was good, Canada’s own Wayne Gretzky, offered his own congratulations to Williams pre-match.
“What Serena did for boys and girls throughout the world is spectacular,” the Great One said. “Congratulations on a wonderful career.”
Approaching her 41st birthday next month, Williams was well beaten by the 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 6-4. The defeat may have dropped Williams, a three-time champion of this tournament, to 35-6 on Canadian soil, but it will have done little to lessen the impact she has had on tennis, in Canada as well as the rest of the planet.
VAUGHN RIDLEY/Getty Images
Loud ovations from fans and posters and placards greeted Williams at the sold-out Sobeys Stadium.VAUGHN RIDLEY/Getty Images
From young girls and boys, to seasoned pros, the week in which the American announced that she is winding down her playing career – with this month’s U.S. Open as a likely bookend – has brought forth all manner of memories and emotions.
“I’m kind of sad, but she’s had a good career,” said 12-year-old Charla Hanson from Buffalo, adding that she loves Williams more because “she does things outside of tennis.” Charla’s mom bought tickets and jumped in the car to drive across the border as soon as she found out Williams was calling time on her glittering career, determined that her children should see one of the sport’s greats.
Williams was feted before, during and after Wednesday’s match, afforded a 15-second standing ovation following the pre-game introductions. Shouts of “C’mon, Serena,” or “You can do it, girl,” cascaded down from the stands in an effort to prolong her stay north of the border, but it was in vain.
“It was a lot of emotions, obviously. I love playing here, I’ve always loved playing here,” she said after the loss. “I wished I could have played better but Belinda played so well today.
“I’m terrible at goodbyes … goodbye Toronto.”
In a post-game interview, Williams was reduced to tears as she accepted flowers, a portrait and Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors jerseys for her and her daughter, Alexis Olympia.
If Wednesday was truly the last time tennis fans saw Williams competing on Canadian soil, it was, like so much of her career, must-see box office.
The round-of-32 match sold out at the 9,500-seater Sobeys Stadium in Toronto hours before either of the players took the court. Tennis Canada confirmed it was the highest-attended session of play in the history of the tournament.
That sense of excitement wasn’t restricted solely to the stands either. Canadian Bianca Andreescu, who beat the 23-time Grand Slam champion to claim her breakthrough major at the U.S. Open three years ago, had no problem drawing second billing behind Williams on Wednesday, happily conceding the earlier 7 p.m. ET slot. Andreescu played Alize Cornet on Centre Court following Williams’s match.
Williams receives a standing ovation from fans. Tennis Canada confirmed the match was the highest-attended session of play in the history of the tournament.COLE BURSTON/Reuters
More than most athletes – male or female – Williams is a lot of things: mother, entrepreneur, fashionista, film producer. But coursing through each of those life strands is the competitive spirit that she honed on the hard courts of Compton, Calif., during her childhood alongside elder sister Venus and under the demanding gaze of their father Richard.
Shades of that fierce desire were apparent in the essay that appeared in Vogue on Tuesday that Williams used to announce her impending exit from the sport, though no firm date was set. It’s why she used the words “evolving away from tennis” rather than retire, preferring to focus on what lies ahead on her journey instead of the trophy-littered trail she leaves in her wake.
The failure to match, if not surpass, the sport’s singles record of 24 Grand Slam titles will sting – “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record. Obviously I do,” Williams said. However, she still has the U.S. Open later this month to draw level with Margaret Court’s long-time mark.
But many of Court’s slams were achieved in a far different era, before the sport turned professional in 1968. As it stands, Williams has more singles titles than anyone since then – edging the 22 claimed by Rafael Nadal and Steffi Graf, as well as the 21 from Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s 20.
In measuring Williams’s brilliance, the longevity merits mention as much as the accolades. The American is the only player to win singles titles in each of the past four decades. She won her first Grand Slam – the 1999 U.S. Open – at 17 years old, before either Andreescu or Leylah Fernandez were born.
Yet Canada’s two leading women’s players – Grand Slam finalists both – credit the impact Williams has had on their own burgeoning careers.
“I feel honoured to have gotten the opportunity to play her and even connect with her in some way. … She’s done so much for this sport, for women’s tennis,” said Andreescu, who also famously beat Williams in the 2019 Rogers Cup final in Toronto when a teary Williams had to retire owing to injury.
And though Fernandez has never played Williams in a competitive match, the 19-year-old felt her retirement would create a void in the sporting world.
“It’s very sad news,” Fernandez said. “She’s an icon, she’s a legend. The sport needs her. She’s done incredible things for not only tennis but also for women. She gave us a path to follow.”
Just as importantly, Williams, who was the first Black woman to win a tennis Grand Slam since Althea Gibson won five in the 1950s, has provided a role model for Black athletes everywhere.
American teen Coco Gauff, who overcame Elena Rybakina in three sets on Wednesday, said that her fellow countrywoman is the only reason she even plays a “predominantly white sport.”
“I saw somebody who looked like me dominating the game,” Gauff said. “It made me believe that I could dominate, too.”
Paul Attfield