MONTREAL | The announcement of the upcoming retirement of women’s tennis great Serena Williams did not go unnoticed by spectators present Tuesday at IGA Stadium to watch the National Bank Open men’s matches.
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All those interviewed thus spoke of the perseverance and power of the 41-year-old American who should retire after the next United States Open, according to her words in an interview published by “Vogue” magazine. According to many, the exploits of the winner of 23 Grand Slam tournaments are not about to be equaled.
“She has had a great career and it will be hard to beat. She was the first to bring “power tennis” to women thanks to her tenacity and power, said Montrealer Daniel Rouillard, who has been attending matches at the Montreal tournament since 1993. There may be another like her one day, but I don’t see any right now. The only one I saw with such a nice “package” was [Ashleigh] Barty, except she pulled out. There would possibly be [Iga] Swiatek, but I don’t know.”
“She is the best of all time with her many victories at the US Open. She is solid everywhere, the mental strength is there. The step will be extremely high to match it,” added Luc Turcotte, from Ottawa, who has already had the chance to attend a Williams game live.
Rare presences
Because, it must be remembered, the presence of the powerful player on Montreal soil has been rare. Serena will have played her last tournament in town in the summer of 2014, when her older sister Venus defeated her in the semi-finals. Nevertheless, amateurs understand that the unexpected can sometimes change the plans.
“It’s always nice to see players of her caliber, but there were the injuries. She remains a very good athlete, very powerful with an explosive serve, “complimented Laurence Morissette and Julie Lévesque, mentioning in passing the confrontations between Williams and the Russian Maria Sharapova, defeated 20 times in 22 duels by the American.
“His career has been exceptional. She’s over 40, hats off! While being consistent and displaying rigour, she wanted to win and that is still the case today. She just won her match [lundi à Toronto]added Danielle Picard of Montreal, who certainly would have liked to see Williams here more often.
-After defeating the Spaniard Nuria Párrizas Díaz in her first match in the Queen City, the former world number 1 ranked in the 407th rung was waiting for the winner of the clash between the Swiss Belinda Bencic and the Czech Tereza Martincova.