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Roger and Serena’s Last Dance: the farewell year to tennis as we knew it

They were both born in 1981, they both took up the racket as children and left it in this 2022 which is the year in which an era of tennis ends: Roger Federer and Serena Williams they said goodbye to competitions. They did it a few months apart. They are two farewells that were expected, but which close an era in terms of tennis, the first twenty years of the new millennium.

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For Serena, the name is enough. Needless to say Williams. There is only one Serena. The tennis player capable of 858 career victories, 73 titles in singles, 39 in doubles, 23 slams in singles, 39 with in doubles, an Olympic gold in singles (London 2012) and three of her with her sister Venus. Here, this is the other name to mention: there would have been no Serena, without Venus, the older sister who was the first to make her debut on the fields that count and who has always trained with the younger one.

The father, the one in the film King Richardgrows champions with an unorthodox method for many, but by making a miracle that starts from the suburbs of Los Angeles and from the gangs that live there and that reaches a ranking in which Serena, with over 94 million dollars in prizes, is the player who in history has earned the most in women’s tennis.

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Professional at 14, on the WTA circuit at 16, the legend of Serena Williams began in September 1999 with the first of her 23 slams, the US Open. It’s not all victories from now on, there are crises and second thoughts, but also triumphs. 2015 is a special year: number one in the world for two years she wants the Grand Slam like Steffi Graf in 1988. She won the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon, but lost to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals at the US Open.

The 2017 Australian Open is the last Grand Slam won by Serena and they are to be remembered also because Williams is already expecting her daughter Olympia, which will be born in September of that year. After maternity leave there will be 4 Grand Slam finals, all lost. In August 2022 the announcement: “I will miss that version of me, the girl who played tennis”.

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The perfect farewell of the year, even if made entirely of defeats as he joked, is however that of Roger FedererThe Swiss Maestro, King Roger, tennis legend who has won 20 Grand Slam tournaments, fewer than others, but like him has not played anyone. Federer writes a letter: «I am 41 years old, I have played more than 1,500 matches in 24 years. Tennis has treated me more generously than I ever dreamed, and now I have to recognize when it’s time to end my competitive career.”

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The letter is addressed to his tennis family and beyond because the greatest gift received from sport are all the people he has met over the years on the courts: friends, opponents and supporters. On the field of the Laver Cup you will see a story of friendship and tears. If it hadn’t ended in tears it wouldn’t have been Roger Federer’s last match, but the myth has not been denied. They are tears that King Roger doesn’t call sad, he says happy. Certainly they are contagious tears that immediately seize his doubles partner Rafael Nadal. «It was a wonderful day, I’m not sad. I have enjoyed every moment, from tying my shoes last time playing, to being here with family and friends. I made it to the end and couldn’t be happier. Playing with Rafa with so many legends next to me».

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As there would have been no Serena without Venus, like this there would have been no Roger without Rafa. Federer’s sporting life has always been nourished by his rivalry with Nadal and his friendship with the Spaniard. Federer’s hand in tears taking Nadal’s hand, the two surrounded by the other players of the European team, is the most beautiful sporting image of 2022. We will meet other players, we will still see Nadal, Djokovic that no one seems to be able to stop and the youngsters, su all Carlos Alcaraz who won his first Grand Slam and at 19 is number 1 in the world. But we have one certainty: we will never see anyone playing like Roger and Serena again.

More stories from Vanity Fair that may interest you:

– Nadal to Federer: “Dear Roger, I wish this moment would never come”

– From Nadal to Baggio, the champions who became “friends” of pain

– Roger Federer, farewell after the Laver Cup: «Tennis, I love you and I will never leave you»


Source: Vanity Fair

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