On an evening laced with emotion, Serena Williams bade farewell to Toronto for the final time as a professional tennis player amid scenes that offered a foretaste of what is to come when, a few weeks from now, the curtain falls permanently on her illustrious career.
A day after she announced her impending retirement in a magazine column, Williams arrived on court to a tumultuous reception and left bearing a bouquet of flowers, shirts gifted by the city’s ice hockey and basketball teams, and the love and goodwill of the 12,500 souls who packed the stands. Many had snapped up their tickets at the last minute, desperate to see the 23-time grand slam champion in the flesh one final time as she faced Belinda Bencic, the 12th seed, at an event where she has won three titles.
Such was the demand to be part of the occasion that a further 5,000 people gathered outside in a hastily assembled viewing area . There was plenty to see, with Billie Jean King, Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu among those who paid tribute to the retiring champion in a video screened before the contest.
“Serena has transcended our sport, gone way beyond the boundaries of just being an athlete,” said King, “because of her stature, using tennis as a platform way beyond just the sport and giving back, and also making it better for women, particularly women of colour. It’s just the beginning for Serena.”
Yet it was also, undeniably, an end of sorts. Bencic saw to that. The Olympic champion was already part of Williams’ story in Toronto, having beaten her in the semi-finals seven years ago when she was just 18 years old. Williams was in her pomp back then, three-quarters of the way through a grand slam bid that would ultimately come unstuck against Roberta Vinci in the US Open semi-finals, and Bencic cut an emotional figure after handing the American what was only her second loss of the season.
Seven years on, it was Williams who found herself choking back tears, although – on a night when tennis felt almost immaterial – her emotion owed little to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat and everything to the outpouring of public affection that followed it.
“It was a lot of emotions,” said Williams, who had beaten Nuria Párrizas Díaz of Spain in Monday’s opening round, after Bencic handed her the stage. “Obviously, I love playing here, I’ve always loved playing here. I wish I could have played better, but Belinda played so well today. But it’s been a pretty interesting 24 hours.
“It’s just been so memorable. Like I said in my article, I’m terrible at goodbyes, but goodbye Toronto.”
Bencic will move on to a meeting with Garbiñe Muguruza, the Spanish eighth seed; Williams, to a farewell tour that will take in Cincinnati before ending, in all probability, at the US Open, which begins in New York at the end of this month.
There will be plenty more tears in the weeks ahead.