One of the greatest of all time, it is sad that she is leaving: Rafael Nadal pays tribute to Serena Williams

The 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal expressed his gratitude towards the 23-time major winner Serena Williams, saying “we can’t thank her enough for all the things that she did for our sport”.

Williams will be playing in her last WTA Tour tournament at the Cincinnati Masters before her retirement from the sport at the US Open. She will take on Emma Raducanu in her first-round match.

Williams hinted that she would retire from the sport soon, prompting an outpouring of praise for the American great. In the upcoming September issue of Vogue, she wrote that the “countdown has begun” to “evolve away from tennis”.

“Plenty of memories,” Nadal was quoted as saying. “She is one of the greatest sports [people] of all time. I feel lucky to share a tour for a long period of time with her. Of course, from a selfish point of view it’s sad that she’s leaving the tour but, on the other hand, we can’t thank her enough for all the things that she did for our sport.

“I think she’s an amazing inspiration for a lot of people around the world and I think she deserves to choose whatever works for her better at this stage off her life. So I wish her all the best.”

The Cincinnati Masters marks the return of Nadal to competitive tennis for the first time since he withdrew ahead of his semi-final match at Wimbledon due to an abdominal tear. The Spaniard was scheduled to return in Montreal last week but could not as there was some lingering discomfort in his abdominal muscle.

“I hope to be ready,” Nadal said about his return. “Of course, I had a small tear in the abdominal so it’s dangerous. The abdominal is the place that is dangerous because in every serve you put a lot of effort there, so I need to take things a little bit easier and do the highs the proper way. That’s what I’m trying to do. Try to be a little more conservative but I hope I can be ready to play.”