"You want to keep her playing forever" - Canadian Open director on Serena Williams' imminent retirement
WTA
Serena Williams kicked off her goodbye tour midway through her stint at the National Bank Open (Rogers Cup).
Williams announced what she referred to as her evolution – she has never liked the word retirement – away from tennis in a first-person essay for Vogue that was published after her first-round win in the tournament.
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The farewell ceremony fit for a legend such as Williams did not have to wait much longer, though, as the 40-year-old 23-time Grand Slam champion bowed out to Belinda Bencic in the second round.
Williams, who is expected to retire after the US Open, then thanked and bid adieu to the sellout crowd of 12,500 fans.
Canadian Open tournament director Karl Hale said that Williams' impending retirement was both celebratory and sad, because one would like the American tennis great to "keep playing forever."
"It was celebratory. It was sad. Because you want to keep her (Serena Williams) playing forever. But that doesn't happen in sport," Hale said during a press conference.
"So, just happy that she was here. Because six weeks ago, I never imagined her and Venus (Williams) would be here."
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He added that Williams was a "gracious person" as he recalled memories of the three-time Canadian Open winner.
"The memories with her, she's a three-time champion," said Hale. "She really supported our event throughout her 21-plus years of playing this. Really gracious person."
Williams is set to compete at the Western & Southern Open this week, before her final tournament at the US Open.
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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