Serena will leave a void – but can anyone fill it?

While the contenders are intriguing, there is no obvious heir to the retiring 40-year-old Serena Williams’ throne.

Serena Williams waves to the crowd after losing to Belinda Bencic at the Canadian Open on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images

The drawing power of Serena Williams, which will soon be lost to tennis after a quarter of a century, was evident once again on Tuesday. In the aftermath of her retirement announcement, US Open organisers sold 16,500 tickets, more than five times the 3200 that had been purchased the previous day.

We did not necessarily need a reminder of the extra eyeballs that Williams brings to the sport, yet it is still impressive that so many seats were quickly snapped up when the schedule for her first-round match – potentially the last of her long professional career – is yet to be confirmed. Many of her fans have already gambled on it taking place on the opening night, leaving this session in a 23,000-capacity stadium close to a sell-out.

Serena Williams fell to Belinda Bencic in the second round in Toronto on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Tennis will no doubt miss the presence of Williams, but it is not as though the governing body of the women’s tour, the WTA, is completely unprepared for it. In recent times, the 40-year-old had made sporadic appearances, contesting only six tournaments outside the grand slams in the past two years. A harsh truth is that we never saw Williams at her best after she returned to the tour as a mother in 2018.

She added only one more WTA title to her collection, at the 2020 Auckland Classic, and lost the fear factor that so often in the past had overwhelmed opponents before they had even stepped on the court. As a result, the door was left open for others to step up and take over the mantle.

The problem is that no one ever has taken it by the horns. Naomi Osaka, 24, appeared a candidate when she won four grand slam titles, but has since dropped to No.39 in the world rankings and was in tears this week after retiring from her first-round match at the Canadian Open with a back injury.

Naomi Osaka has since dropped to world No.39 playing a limited schedule. Picture: AFP

Ashleigh Barty won the French Open in 2019, Wimbledon in 2021 and the Australian Open in January this year before retiring at the age of 25 to focus on other interests.

Ever since Williams won the last of her 23 major trophies at the 2017 Australian Open, the women’s game has been in an uncertain state of flux. Remarkably, there have been 14 separate champions across the past 21 grand slam tournaments. One particular issue is the lack of rivalries. As has been seen on the men’s tour, repeat contests help to create storylines. But, at present, there is not a group of high-profile female players performing consistently enough to build the foundations for future duels.

There is at least hope in the emergence of several young stars. Iga Swiatek has reached world No.1 at the age of 21 and this year put together a 37-match winning streak that was the most by any woman since Martina Hingis in 1997. With two French Open titles already under her belt, she has the all-court game to triumph at all of the other grand slam events. While Emma Raducanu has struggled for consistency since her US Open triumph last year, she still has time on her side at the age of 19. Her matches attract considerable interest, most notably the final against her fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez in New York last year, which peaked at 3.4 million viewers on the American broadcaster ESPN. The men’s final between Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic the next day had a peak of 2.7 million.

After winning the Australian Open in January Ashleigh Barty retired at the top of the game. Picture: David Caird

Coco Gauff has already become a wonderful ambassador for the sport at the age of 18, speaking on all sorts of social issues from racism to anti-abortion laws in America. Her tennis is in great shape, having finished runner-up to Swiatek at the French Open in June. Tennis will move on – as it has done throughout the course of history after the likes of Steffi Graf and Pete Sampras called it a day – but Williams is irreplaceable.

Winning in excess of 20 grand slam titles has almost become normalised through the success of her, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer in this sparkling era. Add to this the boundaries that Williams has transcended and it is hard to imagine that we will ever see anyone like her again.

“The legacy that she’s left throughout her career is something that I don’t think any other player can touch,” Gauff said. “She’s the GOAT [greatest of all time], and undisputed, too, in my opinion. But I don’t think that’s an opinion, it’s a fact. Serena, for me, is the GOAT. The GOAT of all GOATs. There will never be another Serena.”

– The Times