Serena Williams may have planned retirement her way but the American must be prepared to accept the goodbyes as well as the losses and exit the stage with grace, tennis great Martina Navratilova has told Reuters.
Williams signalled her intention to retire in a Vogue article in early August saying she was "evolving away from tennis" but never confirming the U.S. Open as her final event.
However, for Navratilova, like most of the tennis world, the message was clear -- Flushing Meadows, where Williams won the first of her 23 Grand Slam titles in 1999, will be the place she takes her final bow.
Navratilova said she completely understood the emotions Williams was wrestling with as she approaches her final match having experienced many of them herself.
But having made her decision, Williams must be prepared to live with it and say goodbye even in the face of defeat. "It's hard," said Navratilova, who is working with Sense Arena on a virtual reality tennis training product that provides players with enhanced visualisation. "When I retired in '93 I told the press it was my last year which was a mistake because every single tournament was a freaking tear-jerker."
Williams' short farewell tour, which has included two stops - in Toronto and Cincinnati - has been more bitter than sweet.
The 40-year-old Williams also said in the Vogue article that she did not like the word "retirement" and has been clearly frustrated by the inability to dictate the terms of her exit.
"Serena did it her way, which was announcing in a very glamorous way on Vogue magazine, but then she is not accepting the losses, she is not accepting what comes with it which is saying goodbye," added Navratilova.
