Serena bids final farewell to Canada and Jaber withdrawal

Serena bids final farewell to Canada and Jaber withdrawal; American legend Serena Williams, who announced earlier in the week that she would soon retire from tennis, told Canadian fans of her loss in the second round of Toronto’s Thousand against Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.

Wednesday’s 6-2, 6-4 loss to the Olympic gold medallist was unexpected last year, with Serena playing only her third game of 2022 in the singles competition.

Williams received a touching farewell on the pitch, shedding tears when she said goodbye to the Canadian crowd, who supported her throughout the match.

“I like to play here; I’ve always loved playing here. I wished I played better tonight, but Belinda played well. ”

Williams, who turns 41 next month, beat Spain’s Noria Dias on Monday for her first singles win since the 2021 French Open 14 months ago.

But it caused shock in the sports world when she revealed in an article in Vogue magazine and posted on Instagram Tuesday that the “countdown has begun” to her retirement, which will likely be after the US Open kicking off at the end of this month knowing that she will be taking part before that in Cincinnati.

I continued on the pitch and her voice shaking, “As I said in my article, I’m so bad at goodbye. But Bye… Toronto. ”

For her part, Bencic considered Serena “to be the event tonight… it was a special feeling to be on the pitch with her today; for me, it was a very great occasion.”

“You can feel her everywhere… she has this aura… whether you like it or not, you feel terrified and scared” in front of her, she continued, “I feel terrified to see celebrities every time I see her; it’s tough to play against her, I feel a little paralyzed, just to watch her.”

This was the Swiss’s second win over the American in their fourth meeting, knowing that the first was in the semifinals in Toronto in 2015 “today is relatively sad; I don’t want her to retire.”

Tunisia’s fifth-ranked Anas Jabeur withdrew when they were behind in their second-round match 6-1, 2-1 against China’s Kenuin Jing (51) due to stomach pain.