The taste of own medicine

Serena Williams suffered crashing defeat against Emma Raducanu

As Serena Williams, one of the greatest tennis players to have graced the game is approaching the end of her career, she might be losing a bit of shape.

Following a dismissive performance by Emma Raducanu, Serena crashed out of the Cincinnati Masters first round and left the court quickly.

With a 6-4 6-0 triumph, Britain’s current US Open champion looked sharp as she eliminated the 23-time grand slam champion.

Bittersweet

The one-hour, five-minute encounter with Raducanu resulted in Williams hurriedly leaving the court, waving to the spectators. Williams played in what would be her final match in Cincinnati, and it was a bittersweet farewell for her as she trailed Raducanu 1-4 in the opening set.

After launching a comeback in the opening set to bring the score to 4-5, the 40-year-old champion gave the crowd reason to be hopeful. Raducanu then closed out the set with a brutal serve game to love. This immediately put an end to any hopes of a Serena comeback.

Williams’ performance was summed up with a forehand into the net off her own serve. After being “bagelled” by the British player, she was not in the mood for an on-court interview. Fans were devastated on social media by the brutality of Williams’ farewell performance in Cincinnati.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going

Williams’ appearance in Cincinnati was her second US Open warm-up; Flushing Meadows will be where she next steps onto the court. Last week in Toronto, Serena also suffered a straight-sets loss to Belinda Bencic.

She won her first match since the 2021 French Open when she defeated Nuria Parrizas-Diaz the day before the announcement. Overall, 23 Grand Slam titles have been won by Williams, the most recent coming in 2017 at the Australian Open while she was expecting her daughter Olympia.

Immense praise & support

With the star set to bid farewell, fans poured in their sentiments through different platforms, encouraging the veteran tennis player and extending support for her.

One of the fans’ tweets also read: “Even the illustrious, indomitable Serena Williams can’t stem the tides of time but still can’t help feel sad watching Radacanu blow her away here in Cincinnati Open.”

A befitting opponent

While her opponent Raducanu was all praise for her senior counterpart Serena, saying: “I can’t believe I just played Serena Williams,” the 19-year-old Raducanu said. “It’s something that I think I’m really fortunate to have been able to do, and for our careers to have crossed when there’s such a big (age) gap and watching her growing up, it was an amazing experience to just play her.”

Fans shouted loudly upon Williams’ introduction and again when she earned her first point in the second game thanks to a mistake by Raducanu. When she double-failed, Williams yelled in fury. When she won the third game of the opening set, she screamed even louder and raised her fist.

While Raducanu had to be proactive to give nothing away to Serena to cash in.

“I just knew how important every single point was because you let up a little bit, yeah, she’s going to be all over you,” Raducanu said. “She’s just such a legend.”

Growing away

Serena is quitting the game stating that she will be ‘growing’ away from the sport to prioritise her family and venture capital career which will be important post her illustrious career. The 40-year-old claimed that a major factor in her decision to ‘evolution’ away from tennis was her desire to grow her family.