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Serena Williams begins her farewell tour with a loss at the Canadian Open

2022-08-11T11:44:39.187Z


Serena Williams lost in the second round of the Canadian Open, in what was her first match after announcing that her farewell is near.


Serena Williams was talking about her retirement and it seemed like a joke 0:42

(CNN) --

Carrying a bouquet of flowers and wiping away a tear, Serena Williams greeted a raucous crowd Wednesday, a day after announcing her forthcoming retirement from tennis.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion was beaten by Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-4 in the second round of the Canadian Open in Toronto, her first match since writing an article in Vogue explaining that "the countdown has begun." and that "it will evolve away from tennis".

"Like I said in the article, I'm terrible at goodbyes. But bye-bye, Toronto," he said in an on-court interview after the game.

It was probably Williams' last appearance at the Canadian Open, having won the tournament twice during her incredible career.

  • Serena Williams, close to retirement: "My God, I like tennis. But now the countdown has begun"

Along with her older sister, Venus, she helped transform the sport, regularly winning Grand Slam tournaments in both singles and doubles tennis.

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The 40-year-old has amassed 73 career singles titles, 23 doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles, including 39 Grand Slam titles: 23 singles titles, 14 doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles.

"It was a lot of emotions, obviously," Williams said of the game.

Serena Williams' best moments as a tennis player 1:08

"I love playing here, I've always liked playing here. I wish I could have played better, but Belinda played very well today. It's been a very interesting 24 hours. Anyway, this is what it is. I really liked being here today and play in front of you, thanks for the support", he added.

Fans packed the 12,500-capacity stadium to watch Serena Williams bid farewell, and tournament organizers for the first time set up an outdoor viewing area with capacity for another 5,000 people.

Inside the stadium, the public held banners that read "Thank you Serena", "23, we will miss you" or simply "Queen".

A farewell performance ended with Williams accepting a gift from the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and the NBA's Toronto Raptors.

  • This is the life of Serena Williams: titles, age, family, ranking and other data

Serena Williams is expected to play next at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, followed by the US Open, which she has suggested will be her last tournament.

For her part, Coco Gauff defeated Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on Wednesday 6-4, 6-7 (8) and 7-6 (3), in a marathon match lasting 2 hours and 49 minutes, to pass to the round of 16.

Nick Kyrgios also advanced to the Round of 16 with an impressive 6-7 (2) 6-4 6-2 win over World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev.

CNN's Ben Morse contributed to this report.

Serena Williams

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-08-11

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