Who are the heiress to Serena’s throne
Tennis will no doubt miss the presence of Williams, but it is not as though the governing body of the women’s tour, the WTA, is completely unprepared for it.
The drawing power of Serena Williams, which will soon be lost to tennis after a quarter of a century, was evident once again on Tuesday.
In the aftermath of her retirement announcement, US Open organisers sold 16,500 tickets, more than five times the 3,200 that had been purchased the previous day.
We did not necessarily need a reminder of the extra eyeballs that Williams brings to the sport, yet it is still impressive that so many seats were quickly snapped up when the schedule for her first-round match — potentially the last of her long professional career — is yet to be confirmed. Many of her fans have already gambled on it taking place on the opening night, leaving this session in a 23,000-capacity stadium close to a sell-out.
Tennis will no doubt miss the presence of Williams, but it is not as though the governing body of the women’s tour, the WTA, is completely unprepared for it. In recent times the 40-year-old had made sporadic appearances, contesting only six tournaments outside the grand slams in the past two years.
A harsh truth is that we never saw Williams at her best after she returned to the tour as a mother in 2018. She added only one more WTA title to her collection, at the 2020 Auckland Classic, and lost the fear factor that so often in the past had overwhelmed opponents before they even stepped on the court.
As a result the door was left open for others to step up and take over the mantle.
The problem is that no one ever has taken it by the horns. Naomi Osaka, 24, appeared a candidate when she won four grand-slam titles but has since dropped to No 39 in the world rankings and was in tears this week after retiring from her first-round match at the Rogers Cup with a back injury.
Ashleigh Barty won the French Open in 2019, the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2021, before retiring this year at the age of 25 to focus on other interests.
Ever since Williams won the last of her 23 major trophies at the 2017 Australian Open, the women’s game has been in an uncertain state of flux. Remarkably, there have been 14 separate champions across the past 21 grand-slam tournaments.
One particular issue is the lack of rivalries. As has been seen on the men’s tour, repeat contests help to create storylines. But at present there is not a group of high-profile female players performing consistently enough to build the foundations for future duels.
