On Monday, Serena Williams played her first match at Wimbledon in two years. She won the 2016 singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon, but she skipped out in 2017 because she was very pregnant. Wimbledon decided to give her a seed, even though her ranking is outside the top 100. Serena won her match on Monday even though she looked pretty rusty at times. Still, it was a good win and her draw opened up rather well as the top-seed in her section, Elina Svitolina, lost in the first round. Serena also made news on the court because she debuted a new look: a long-sleeved Nike tennis dress and some kind of compression tights, which she says she needs because of her history of blood clots. She looked good physically – she dropped a noticeable amount of weight since she stopped breastfeeding, and it’s noticeable even from one month ago when she was playing the French Open. She just looked like the old, pre-baby Serena out there.
After the match, Serena was asked about retirement, and she joked again about how she and Roger Federer are going to see it through ‘til the bitter end. She told the press (as she laughed):
“Oh, I’m just playing until Roger stops…So… Gosh, how long? Did he put a time limit on it? He said how many more years he’s going? [off-camera, someone says “four years”] Well, here I am. We in it. We in it together. As long as he’s here, I’m going to try to be here.”
I keep saying this, but I believe her: she really doesn’t want to retire before Roger. It’s really funny. In her Wimbledon interviews, she also talked about the Deadspin story about how many times the anti-doping testers have come by her house. There are also some great conversations about breastfeeding, weight loss, polo and the Duchess of Sussex. She was asked if there was a chance Meghan would come out to watch her matches and Serena basically made it sound like Meghan might come later in the tournament, if Serena got that far.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
It’s like a bet or something. Either way, Serena is a legend and she can retire or play until she’s 80. Nothing’s gonna change that.
Hah! Brilliant.
Seriously I know Roger is not much liked on this site but I am going to be so sad when they both go.
End of an era.
New players will come in a few years. I love good tennis and this is the best group since the mid 90s. Still, no one will forget this group just like we still admire great players from the past.
This! I’m a bit sad at the prospect of them becoming history (they already made it but retirement 🙁
Honestly, even if they can be messy at times, I looove all the players from this era: Fed, Serena & Venus, Djoko, Rafa, Andy, Stan The Man, etc… All of them are in their 30s so I’m trying to enjoy them while I can but I’m so going to miss them when they retire. They all gave us so many great matches. It won’t be the same.
I don’t know why people on celebitchy don’t like him while he’s universally loved by like.. everyone else. Humble etc. We had an era of Sampras-Agassi rivalry, Federer/Nadal etc, but obviously I’ll miss Roger so much!
I forgot Delpo, sorry Kaiser ^^
My first tennis rivalry was Wilander/Lendl. Then we had Edberg/Becker then Agassi/Sampras, mad Ivanisevic and mad Safin… such talented players.
To me Roger is the last individual tennis player.
He had such a complete effortless game. Nadal and the others are grinders- hugely talented but less elegant.
It feels like the new generation all play the same.
Looking back at the olden days the quality and variety of tennis was so good! Players used to *gasp* serve and volley on grass.
These days are over….
I’m not a physically active person, so when people ask when they’re planning to retire, I always insert my own feelings and think, oh god can I retire now? I hope she plays as long as she wants though.
I hope she keeps playing until she can’t anymore. Same with Roger. Elite athletes like them are rare gems. Enjoy them while they’re still around.
I don’t see anyone in the new generation having the consistency and talent of Serena and Roger. These two have given tennis so much life and have raised the sport’s profile in ways that were never seen before. Many have reached #1 and had come and gone. Many had faded away, but these two are still around and at the top. I think they’re in it now purely for the love of tennis and that’s awesome. I hope they stay healthy.
Rafa Nadal is the top ranked men’s player, not Fed, so, no, Fed is not so rare in the sense that Rafa does not even deserve a co-mention, especially when discussing bringing life to tennis.
Joker, even since his injuries, is also pretty darn noteworthy. In fact, three of the (top five or six) greatest men’s tennis players of all time playing with overlapping careers is pretty notable and deserving mention for all of them, not just one of them when discussing their era and what has never been seen before in tennis.
I didn’t talk about the others because they’re not mentioned in the article about Serena and Roger. I’m not here to go into detail about how the Federer vs Nadal vs Djokovic era have changed tennis because this article isn’t about them. Serena mentioned Roger specifically as they are two of the oldest players still on tour and I went by that. Nadal didn’t even enter my mind as he was never included in the discussion about retirement.
Ok, great, Rainbow. I responded to your comment which discussed Fed in sweeping generalizations that did not acknowledge that two other great tennis players have been playing in his era. Serena is mostly in a class by herself although I think most people agree she has had a lot more competition than Graf did in winning a similar number of slams so far in her career.
Campbell, Rainbow talked about Federer because he is the one Serena mentioned. No need to get annoyed because she didn’t mention your favourites. Yes, Nadal is amazing, but he didn’t break quite the amount of records Federer did.
If you have an issue with that, go and complain on Serena’s Instagram. I’m sure she cares a lot.
Federer has a losing record against Nadal. If you have an issue with that, Roger won’t be changing it in this lifetime. He’s too far behind. Also no need to complain to Serena about that because Roger carries the L on his forehead.
@firedragon, I don’t even have a favourite amongst the both of them, so you insulting one in a childish way only makes you look petty.
And they’re friendly, so even less reason to hate one, I’d think.
When you put childish pettiness into the universe, @Lydia ie: “if you have an issue with that…complain on Serena’s insta,” expecting a polite reply to your comment seems not commensurate to what you are giving out. For further example, please don’t essentially suggest to me who I “hate” or give what is effectually intro to tennis info to someone who obvs follows tennis closely and contributed some of that love for the sport in other responses right below this post. As far as Federer goes, he has an undeniable bandwagon effect — as did Sampras when I was growing up — which I usually make efforts to balance out in a factually friendly way but I don’t feel an obligation to be friendly to someone who is not extending that to others.
You were being childish and impolite about Federer, who did nothing to you. That made everything you just said hypocritical.
If you grew up with Sampras, you are not that young. If you still get so upset by a sport that you insult an athlete, it would probably be healthy for you to take a step back. Good luck with that.
Lydia, this is Celebitchy. People are being impolite TO YOU because of your inability to step back and accept negativity toward a public figure on public forum called Celebitchy. Fed is clearly your God and full time obsession so good luck policing every public forum and personally attacking and trolling everybody that dares have a critical opinion of Lydia’s God Roger Federer.
Time for your meds Lydia/Rainbow before I say again how much I can’t stand Federer’s smug old face. Guys, stop feeding trolls here.
I love her so much. She’s the real deal
Venus is pretty great too. She has had serious health issues that often prevent her from competing at the same level as she used to but I love them both and just had to give a shout out for V and her fighting spirit and all she has done for women’s equality in sports.
Serena is clearly joking about Roger but the one person Serena would have a really hard time playing without is her sister I think. Serena told Oprah a moving story once how Venus would go hungry to give Serena her lunch money. They are the great pair in tennis.
Just wanted to add that my sister just told me Sharapova lost yesterday. Very surprised Sloane Stephens went out first round. Rooting for the Williams sisters or Madison Keys but I have this Simona Halep’s going to go on a roll for two Slams in row feeling on the women’s side. Hopefully Serena’s gearing up. I can see she and Venus both playing two more years, through the next Summer Olympics and then finishing out the tennis season.
I’m 19 and can’t stand Federer’s smug face. Serena’s cool though.
I love her outfit especially the compression tights. They are fishnet! So chic.