“I don’t see a Cinderella happy ending,” Martina Navratilova assured of a short stay for Serena Williams at the 2022 US Open
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Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova
23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams is about to play in her final tournament as a Pro as she has announced the 2022 US Open will be the last tournament of her career as she is set to take retirement from the sport after 28 long years of a glorious career. The former World No. 1 was out injured for the majority of the season but returned for the 2022 Wimbledon Championships and during the US Open Leg series, announced her plans of retirement post her home slam.
With the entire US preparing for Serena’s last-ever tournament, opinions are being given on whether Serena can have one final shot at achieving the record of winning 24 majors and match Margaret Court‘s tally. While Court won those titles combined in the Open Era and Amateur Era, to Serena’s credit, all 23 of her singles titles have come in the Open Era which makes her the most successful single Grand Slam champion in the history of the sport.
“Serena Williams did it her way, which was announcing in a very glamorous way,”: Martina Navratilova
Talking about Serena’s retirement and the final appearance, former World No. 1 Martina Navratilova, one of the sport’s biggest legends, gave her opinion as well on what she expects ahead of the 2022 US Open which commences on 29th August in New York. While she looked affirmative about Serena not being able to win the major, she also said that if anyone could ever do it, that will be Serena for her track record of achieving the impossible.
“It’s hard. When I retired in ’93 I told the press it was my last year which was a mistake because every single tournament was a freaking tear-jerker. Serena did it her way, which was announcing in a very glamorous way on Vogue magazine, but then she is not accepting the losses, she is not accepting what comes with it which is saying goodbye.
“Emotions can only carry you so far, I don’t see a Cinderella happy ending where she wins the tournament. The way she has looked it doesn’t look like she is going to make a miraculous comeback and win the tournament. And with the stress of knowing this is likely your last tournament it doesn’t help. But if anyone can overcome it would be Serena,” said Martina in comments reported by Reuters.
Williams has herself admitted that she doesn’t expect a fairytale ending to her career as she has not been in the best of shapes lately and with her recovery coinciding with the US leg of the Tour, she was lucky enough to go out on her own terms and will bow out in front of her home crowd.
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Sarthak Shitole
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