Wimbledon is unlikely to see Serena Williams on its courts next year, according to tennis great Kim Clijsters, as the legendary American’s career winds down.
Almost exactly a year on from her last competitive appearance – 364 days all told – Williams bowed out of this year’s championship in the first round.
In the wake of her loss to unseeded French player Harmony Tan, the 23-time Grand Slam winner said she “can’t answer” whether she would return in years to come.
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“I don’t know,” said Williams.
“Who knows where I will pop up?
“I don’t know. We’re in the summer now, right in the swing of it.
“Like I said coming into this, I’m just planning for right now and seeing how I feel and just to go from there.”
Clijsters, however, feels the 40-year-old’s time might be up on the iconic grass courts of London.
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Speaking on Stan Sports’ Grand Slam Daily, the two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist tipped Williams’ retirement.
“I think yeah, at the moment that’s where kind of my gut feeling is leading towards,” Clijsters said when asked if it was the last singles match for Williams on the hallowed turf.
“After leaving Wimbledon the way she did last year with the injury, I think that’s not how she wants to leave Wimbledon. She would have loved to have won a match here today.
“She definitely left everything out [on the table]. The energy of the crowd was so amazing. The roof was closed, so it felt even more intense.
“People love seeing somebody fight and giving everything out there and she definitely did that today.
“Amazing to see such a great champion fight harder than anybody out there today.”
Williams took some positives out of the loss, having not made it further than the first set during her last appearance this time last year.
A slip on the slick grass resulted in her retirement from the match, handing Aliaksandra Sasnovich the match.
“It’s definitely better than last year, that’s a start,” she laughed.
Asked whether she would be okay with the loss to Tan being her lasting memory of Wimbledon, Williams replied: “Obviously not, definitely not.
“But today I gave all I could do today, tomorrow maybe I could have gave more, or maybe a week ago I could have gave more.
“At some point you have to be okay with that, and I’m okay, that’s all I could do. You can’t change time or anything. That’s all I could do on this particular day.”
Although a return to Wimbledon might not be on the cards, Williams revealed a desire to contest her home event, the US Open.
That now looms as her swansong before retirement. If that’s how it plays out, she will fall short of her quest to eclipse Margaret Court’s all-time record for Grand Slam singles titles.
“When you’re at home, especially in New York, the US Open, that being the first place I’ve won a Grand Slam, is something that’s always super special,” Williams said.
“Your first time is always special. There’s definitely a lot of motivation to get better to play at home.”
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