Shortly after the announcement of her imminent departure from tennis, former world number one Serena Williams lost in the second round at the WTA tournament in Toronto.
The 40-year-old lost to Olympic champion Belinda Bencic from Switzerland 2: 6, 4: 6. A day earlier, Williams had announced that she would soon be retiring. “It was a pretty interesting 24 hours,” she said after losing to Bencic, who was 15 years her junior.
The American is expected to retire after the US Open, which begins at the end of August. In Canada, she called out to viewers, “I’m terrible at goodbyes, but: Goodbye Toronto.” Williams won a total of 23 Grand Slam titles, one more than the German idol Steffi Graf.
