Love her or not, Serena Williams made a name for herself and for her family throughout her decorated career, add to that, giving the term race pride a whole new meaning for Black athletes all over the world. She made statements in her matches and in her life, including having superstar friends… to the left, to the left – see what I did there; and of course we all remember back in the day when she dated Mr. Common Sense himself!
Speaking about statements in her matches, it was not only about fighting for equality and fairness in the sporting code of her choice for Serena, but it was also about encouraging women to be fearless and comfortable in their own skin. Case in point was when she left a bad taste in some of the organizers’ mouths, that is the organizers of the French Open 3 seasons ago when she showed up to compete wearing a catsuit. The outfit was subsequently banned, never mind the fact that she wore it to aid her with her blood clotting issues at the time.
Williams has not quite been the same player she has been over the years when she returned after having her first child. Her game spiraled uncharacteristically becoming error-filled, letting her down in the biggest matches, on Finals day! Her fans were just as shocked and disappointed as she was that she still willed herself to compete with the intensity and grit we’ve come to associate with her, but whenever she reached a major final, the Serena her fans knew, the Serena she knew would just not show up.
Her mind seemed pretty made up before the start of this season’s US Open that she would call time on her career with 23 Grand Slam titles in her singles play, having offered an exclusive to Vogue magazine prior to the event to state the fact that she would be evolving away from professional competition – so it did come as a surprise after her loss to Ajla Tomljanović when she hinted that she wasn’t sure anymore, and we would have to wait for the slam that goes on down under in January next season to see whether or not she will be there.
The Australian had only kinder words for Serena after beating her in a match which was appropriately epic, ending with the score line 7-5 6-7 6-1.
Other popular players who have returned to the game after having their first children include the Indian veteran Sania Mirza, Victoria Azarenka, the Belgian Kim Clijsters, the American Lindsay Davenport, and most recently Taylor Townsend. Another popular and well-loved athlete on the WTA tour who has recently also called time on her career is the German Andrea Petkovic. So long Petko. Thanks for the tennis.
On the ATP tour, Jo-Willy Tsonga retired this season at Roland Garros, Juan Martín del Potro also retired (it had been some time coming for del Potro since being plagued with injuries throughout his career, and having done multiple surgeries on one knee alone), Frenchman Giles Simon will be playing in his final tournament at the Paris Masters, and Kevin Anderson retired mid-season in May.
