(New York) “Welcome to the retirement club”: Serena Williams paid tribute Thursday to Roger Federer, a tennis legend like her who decided to put away her rackets, assuring that she was one of the “millions of people” that the Switzerland had “inspired”.
Updated yesterday at 11:48 p.m.
“Our paths have always been so similar, so similar. You have inspired millions and millions of people – including me – and we will never forget it, ”wrote on her Instagram page the 40-year-old American, who herself has just retired.
The message addressed to Federer, whom she says she has “always respected and admired”, is accompanied by several photos illustrating the complicity between the two tennis monuments, sometimes smiling during a selfie, sometimes arm in arm.
The 41-year-old 20-time Grand Slam winner announced on Thursday that he will retire after competing at the Laver Cup in London next week. Less than two weeks after that taken by Serena Williams, who made the announcement at the beginning of August, and recorded it in New York, with a final defeat at 3e round of the United States Open.
Williams, who gleaned 23 Majors, falling just one unit short of Australia’s Margaret Court’s record, had a much harder time formalizing her retirement, telling Flushing Meadows she “doesn’t think she’s going back on (her) decision” , before adding: “but you never know”.
She therefore welcomed the more explicit way in which Federer had to lend himself to the painful exercise. “I wanted to find the perfect way to say this, because you ended the game so elegantly – it was done perfectly, and so was your career,” she said.
“I applaud you and look forward to everything you do in the future. Welcome to the retirement club. And thank you for being you @rogerfeder,” she concluded.
Cumulatively, the “Queen of Queens” and the “Maestro” have won 43 Grand Slam singles titles. With their departures from the WTA and ATP circuits, a glorious page in tennis has been turned.