The farewell tour for Serena Williams has generated quite the buzz on the tennis circuit with fellow players and experts chipping in with their views on the American's legacy in every other interview.
Speaking to Fox News recently, former World No.1 John McEnroe described Williams — who, earlier this month, announced her decision to hang up her tennis racket following this year's US Open —as the "greatest female athlete in the history of sports" and "one of the best athletes – male or female".
McEnroe went on to say that Williams' on-court achievements put her in the company of Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and the likes, adding that the 23-time Grand Slam winner had nothing left to prove.
"Serena’s the greatest female athlete, to me, in the history of sports," McEnroe said. "I don’t care who you could come up with. She’s one of the greatest athletes period – male or female.
"She has put herself along the likes of Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, whoever you wanna say. She’s 40 years old. She’s done everything in tennis. She’s got nothing to prove."
Pointing to Williams' interests outside of tennis, McEnroe said the tennis world was expecting her retirement sooner rather than later.
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Speaking about the elusive 24th Grand Slam title that would have seen Williams equal Margaret Court's all-time record, McEnroe said that while it is unlikely to happen, it does not take away from what she has achieved over the course of her illustrious career.
"It sounds like she wants to have more kids, awesome," McEnroe said. "She’s got a lot of other interests. People want to be a part of what she’s doing. She’ll be doing just fine.
"We were sort of expecting this to happen. She wanted to win a couple more, one or two more, break the all-time record, win a couple after having her daughter. That doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen but that, to me, doesn’t take away that she’s the greatest of all time."
Williams is scheduled to face Emma Raducanu in the first round of the Western & Southern Open, and will likely make her final appearance at the US Open later this month.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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