Tennis will move on from Serena Williams. It has to. Might not be easy, mind you, given what a transcendent figure she was, on the court and off. But that is what sports do, even when superstars leave. They all leave, of course, and sports always move on.
The matches will be played, new stars will emerge, fans will continue to watch. And Williams will be missed, of course. By spectators. By executives from the tours, tournaments and television. By other athletes.
And as the 2023 Australian Open gets started on Monday (Sunday night EST), the first Grand Slam tournament to be held since she walked away with a farewell at the U.S. Open in September, shortly before her 41st birthday 바카라 the owner of 23 major singles championships said she preferred the term 바카라evolving바카라 to 바카라retiring바카라 바카라 tennis will get a real taste of what a post-Serena world looks like on a big stage.
That is the case even if her impact won바카라t fade away, as U.S. Open tournament director Stacey Allaster put it: 바카라She leaves an indelible legacy of grace and grit that will inspire athletes, female and male, for many generations to come.바카라
There surely will be those who keep an eye on tangible data during the two weeks at Melbourne Park and as this season, and future seasons, go along. Numbers such as attendance figures and TV ratings will be parsed in an effort to gauge what effect there is from the departure of someone who earned status as a just-one-name-necessary celebrity.
In a way, that is all a bit beside the point, however.
바카라Her legacy is really wide, to the point where you can바카라t even describe it in words. She changed the sport so much. She바카라s introduced people that have never heard of tennis into the sport,바카라 said Naomi Osaka, a 25-year-old from Japan who has won four Grand Slam titles but hasn바카라t played a full match since August and will sit out the Australian Open. 바카라I honestly think that she바카라s, like, the biggest force in the sport. That바카라s not intentionally trying to make (Roger) Federer or (Rafael) Nadal smaller. I just think she바카라s the biggest thing that will ever be in the sport.바카라
In recent decades, folks might have worried about what would happen when Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova stopped playing. Or when Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors moved on. Or Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Or Steffi Graf. And so on.
바카라It바카라s always a loss when you have great players leave. But I바카라ve been through six or seven generations of this,바카라 said Billie Jean King, a two-time inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame who won 12 Grand Slam trophies in singles and another 27 in women바카라s or mixed doubles.
바카라I mean, I remember when Sampras left and when Martina and Chris left. I was like, 바카라Oh, no! What바카라s going to happen?바카라 Well, Sampras was there, and guess what? There바카라s Roger Federer. There바카라s Nadal. ... It바카라s the same thing with the women. We바카라ve got Iga (Swiatek) now, who바카라s taken over,바카라 King said. 바카라Every generation gets better, and the depth of women바카라s tennis is better than it바카라s ever been, and Serena is somewhat responsible for that, because every generation builds on the last generation.바카라
Shortly after Williams lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round at Flushing Meadows, another titan of tennis, 20-time major champ Federer, announced his retirement. Federer hadn바카라t played an official match in more than a full year because of a series of knee operations.
For Williams, there were moments when she stepped away from competing for stretches, either because of health issues or simply because she wanted to spend time on other interests, which she thought contributed to her longevity.
WTA CEO and Chairman Steve Simon thinks those gaps left room for some new faces to emerge in women바카라s tennis, such as current No. 1 Swiatek and American teenager Coco Gauff.
바카라Serena has played what I would call a limited schedule over the last several years, anyway. So clearly, we have a new set of stars that are coming in and certainly establishing themselves and doing well,바카라 Simon said. 바카라But I see us continuing to celebrate Serena 바카라 and I hope she comes back and plays another five or 10 years.바카라
Good luck with that.
But those she brought to tennis, whether players or fans, should last long beyond that timeframe.
바카라Serena got a lot of people interested in our sport. And now it바카라s up to the next generation to do that,바카라 King said. 바카라People always 바카라 the media 바카라 goes into this every time: 바카라Oh, they바카라re leaving! Oh, what바카라s going to happen?바카라 Somebody always comes up to the top. The cream rises to the top.바카라
