Tennis will not be affected by Serena Williams retirement, says former star

A former Wimbledon champion has shared his thoughts on Serena Williams’ possible retirement and is confident the sport will cope without her.

Michael Stich, who beat Boris Becker to lift his Wimbledon title in 1991, is of the opinion that tennis is bigger than any of its superstars.

Stich said: “This sport is bigger than any athlete. We have seen in the past with Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova during my active period and with Chris Evert and many players since then.

“We’ve had so many great players before and so many immense personalities that were able to turn this sport into what it is today.

“We have all seen them go by. The sport has seen them go by, too. This will be the case with Serena Williams, just like it has been before.”

Stich said the sport has seen many players become legends before making way for the next lot of superstars to take their legacies forward, suggesting that the same would happen in Serena’s case.

“We will all miss her and we will all look back and remember her great successes, however we will be happy to see the players that will now be on court.

“Those players will also be valued in regards to their accomplishments. I won’t worry about that at all.”

The 39-year-old, who was denied a record-tying 24th Grand Slam at the Australian Open by Naomi Osaka, hinted towards possible retirement after gesturing to the crowd and walking out of her press conference earlier this month.