Serena Williams will be missed when she retires but the sport is more than capable of surviving without the American tennis star, according to one former Grand Slam winner.
Michael Stich believed the sport is bigger than any player regardless of their achievements. 39-year-old Williams currently has 23 major titles to her name which is one shy of the all-time record currently held by Margaret Court. Although she has won more Grand Slams than any other player in the Open Era. In total Williams has won 73 WTA titles and spent a total of 319 weeks as world No.1 so far in her career.
“This sport is bigger than any athlete. We have seen in the past with Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova during my active period and with Chris Evert and many players since then,” said Stich.
“We’ve had so many great players before and so many immense personalities that were able to turn this sport into what it is today.
“We have all seen them go by. The sport has seen them go by, too. This will be the case with Serena Williams, just like it has been before.”
Williams is currently the third oldest player to have a WTA ranking and the second oldest in the top 100 after her sister Venus. Following her loss to Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open last month she was coy about her retirement plans after telling reporters during an emotional press conference “I don’t know. If I ever say farewell, I wouldn’t tell anyone. So…”
Whenever the tennis heavyweight does hang up her racket for good, Stitch believes it will pave way for the next generation of stars in the women’s game. Future stars include 23-year-old Osaka who has already won four major titles in her career and has been previously named as the highest paid female athlete in the world by Forbes magazine.
“We will all miss her and we will all look back and remember her great successes, however we will be happy to see the players that will now be on court,” he said.
“Those players will also be valued in regards to their accomplishments. I won’t worry about that at all.”
Stitch’s comments come ahead of the 30th anniversary of his triumph at Wimbledon. In 1991 he defeated Boris Becker in straight sets to win the title. A former world No.2 player he won 18 titles on the ATP Tour, as well as a gold medal in the doubles at the 1992 Olympic Games.
