Tearful Serena Williams begins farewell tour as she loses at Canadian Open

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WASHINGTON, DC. KAZINFORMCarrying a bouquet of flowers and wiping a tear from her eye, Serena Williams waved to the raucous crowd on Wednesday a day after her announcing her forthcoming retirement from tennis, CNN reports.

The 23-time grand slam champion was defeated 6-2 6-4 by Belinda Bencic in the second round of the Canadian Open in Toronto -- her first match since penning an article in Vogue explaining that «the countdown has begun» and that she will «evolve away from tennis.»

«As I said in the article, I'm terrible at goodbyes. But goodbye, Toronto,» she said in an on-court interview after the match.

Together with her older sister Venus, she helped transform the sport, regularly winning grand slams in both singles and doubles tennis.

The 40-year-old has accumulated 73 career singles titles, 23 doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles which includes 39 grand slam titles -- 23 singles titles, 14 doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles.

A farewell presentation ended with Williams accepting a gift from the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and the NBA's Toronto Raptors.



Photo: edition.cnn.com

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