‘Goodbye Toronto!’ – An emotional Serena Williams says her farewells to Canada
Serena Williams officially started her farewell tour by saying her goodbyes to Canada after losing ot Belinda Bencic in Toronto.
Williams announced her impending retirement earlier this week, revealing the US Open will be the last tournament of her glittering career.
In her first match since that announcement, Williams faced Belinda Bencic at the Canadian Open. However, it didn’t finished how she hoped, as she sank to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat.
“Yeah, it was a lot of emotions,” Serena Williams said on court after the defeat.
“And yeah, I wish I could have played better, but Belinda played so well today, but it’s been a pretty interesting 24 hours.”
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It’s been a joy playing in front of you guys for all these years, so thank you.
“As I said in the article, I’m terrible at goodbyes. But, goodbye Toronto.”
What was lost, perhaps, was just how well Bencic played, but even she admitted she couldn’t help but get caught up in the Serena send-off.
“Of course it’s super nice, but today it’s a little bit more sad in a way,” said Bencic.
A standing ovation for the legend @serenawilliams in her final match in Canada 👏#NBO22 pic.twitter.com/TfhBXvCuJB
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) August 11, 2022
“I don’t really want her to retire. I feel like I’ve always, in a way you know what she’s achieved and everything, all her legacy and career and everything.
“But now that it’s soon to be over I feel like people, and me included, are realizing it even more.
“Just standing on the court against her today was just, yeah, really overwhelming, I would say.”
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