A banner advertising the match of veteran tennis player Serena Williams, who said that she plans to retire after the 2022 U.S. Open, hangs above a ticket booth outside a stadium at the National Bank Open in Toronto, Ontario, Canada August 9, 2022. 

 Serena Williams’ decision to bow out has left tennis staring at the beginning of the end of the sport’s golden era, a dreaded but inevitable prospect that has long been on the horizon.

The American, who will turn 41 next month, said that the countdown has begun for her to quit playing and devote more time to her family and business. 

The decision — though not unexpected given Williams’ struggles with form and injury in the past 12 months — would have sent shivers down the spines of tennis administrators and organisers.

“She’s box office,” former British number one Greg Rusedski summed it up on Sky Sports.

“She’s carried women’s tennis for the last two decades with her sister Venus as well, you’ve obviously had other great players around them, but she brings your non-tennis fan to the sport.

“If you know absolutely nothing about tennis, you know the name Serena Williams. She’s iconic and we’re losing an icon of our sport and she will be truly, truly missed.”

But it will not just be a loss for women’s tennis. She could well be the first in a series of ageing greats to call time on their playing careers in the near future.

Like Williams, the triumvirate of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, have also dominated tennis for the last two decades and revolutionised the sport, drawing in new and old fans and a long line of sponsors.

All four of them continue to lure fans to the stands, mobile and television screens even after two decades on the tour, while their commercial pull still mesmerizes brands and advertisers.

Injuries to Williams, Federer and Nadal in recent years have raised the ‘retirement’ question time and again and fans and pundits have wondered how the sport would cope with the prospect of losing their most marketable athletes.

Federer, who turned 41 this week, has had multiple knee surgeries in the last two years and has not played a competitive match since going down in the quarter-finals of last year’s Wimbledon.

The 20-time major winner has only committed to playing at his hometown tournament in Basel and the Laver Cup later this year and it remains unclear if the father of four would be ready to commit to the rigours of the tour again.

At 36, Nadal is relatively younger but a chronic foot issue forced the Spaniard to contemplate retirement last year and in 2022 after he won a men’s record 22nd major title at the French Open, playing with numbing injection before each match in Paris.

A radio frequency treatment eased pain in his foot and allowed him to play Wimbledon but the left-hander does not know whether the injury will flare up again.

The 35-year-old Djokovic is the youngest among the lot and undoubtedly the fittest; and appears to be the best bet to keep the flag flying for tennis’ older generation.

The Serbian won his 21st major title at Wimbledon last month and has made it clear that he does not lack motivation in chasing more silverware.

While the so-called ‘Big Three’ of the men’s game have continued to stave off the younger generation when it comes to major success, Williams’ tennis career has been less productive in the past couple of years.

Her last Grand Slam triumph came in 2017 and she has not won a WTA title since lifting the ASB Classic in Auckland at the start of the 2020 season.

Despite all that, Williams has remained the biggest draw in women’s tennis whenever she takes the court.

The World Cup in Qatar will kick-off a day earlier than scheduled if FIFA’s ruling bureau agree to a plan to hold the opening ceremony and the host nation’s first match on Sunday Nov. 20th, a source close to the discussions told Reuters.

The original plan was for the opening ceremony to be held before Qatar’s game on Nov. 21 against Ecuador — which created the unusual situation of two matches being held before the ceremony.

Normally the ceremony is conducted before the kick-off of the first game of the tournament.

The Group A match between Senegal v Netherlands and the Group B match between England and Iran were scheduled to take place before the ceremony on the Monday.

The plan has to be voted on by the heads of FIFA’s six regional confederations and president Gianni Infantino but, despite the late notice, is expected to win support.

The switch to a Nov. 20 opening ceremony and game would allow the Senegal-Netherlands match, scheduled for 1300 local time on Nov. 21, to kick off later in the day. The Group B matches on that day, which also include the United States v Wales, would be unaffected.

Another source close to the proposal said the switch could be confirmed as early as Thursday and that the plan was to ensure that fans did not have to pay for any changes to flights or accommodation.

“The financial impact to fans has been assessed and that any additional costs to fans will be absorbed by organisers, but it is unclear who will bear these costs, whether it is FIFA, Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy or another entity,” said the source.

“There will be an assurance from organisers that any additional costs for fans to change travel bookings or accommodation won’t be borne by them and this will be assessed on a case-by case basis,” the source added.

It was not clear what the mechanism will be to manage any compensation for fans.

igerian-born Real Madrid’s David Alaba celebrates scoring their first goal Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva via REUTERS

Champions League winners Real Madrid outclassed Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 on Wednesday to clinch the UEFA Super Cup for a record-equalling fifth time and kick off their season with a trophy.

A first half goal from David Alaba and another from Karim Benzema in the 65th that lifted him to second in Real’s all-time scoring list with 324 goals, wrapped up the title for the Spaniards.

Europa League winners Eintracht had offered some resistance in the first half and had chances to score but were eventually overrun by the Spaniards.

The win also means Real’s Carlo Ancelotti becomes the first coach to lift the trophy four times.

“Eintracht were very closed and we found it difficult to find our rhythm, but we did it well then,” the Real coach said.

“It’s difficult at the beginning of the season to be in top form but we now have won to start the season well.”

The Italian, who had named the same starting 11 that began their winning Champions League final in Paris in May, had special praise for captain Benzema, last season’s top scorer in the Champions League.

“He’s a very important player, a team leader,” he said. “If we’re here it’s largely due to his merits, he scored a lot of goals, he finished the season well, he scored a goal today and now he’s going for the Ballon d’Or award,” said Ancelotti.

Eintracht were without playmaker Filip Kostic who is close to a move to Juventus, but looked more disciplined than in their 6-1 loss to Bayern Munich last week in their Bundesliga season opener.

They also carved out the first chance of the game when Daichi Kamada broke clear but could not beat Real keeper Thibaut Courtois with his low drive in the 14th minute.

Real responded three minutes later but Vinicius Jr’s effort was cleared on the line by Tuta. Eintracht keeper Kevin Trapp did well to palm another Vinicius Jr effort wide.

The keeper, however, misjudged a cross in the 37th and was well out of position when Casemiro headed on for Alaba and the Austrian tapped in from close range for the lead.

Real stayed in control after the break, forcing another good save from Trapp in the 55th, knocking away a deflected Vinicius Jr shot before Casemiro rattled the crossbar with a shot from the edge of the box two minutes later.

The pressure eventually paid off when Vinicius Jr combined with Benzema — the pair scored a combined 111 club goals last season — and the French forward slotted in to kill off any lingering Eintracht hopes of a first ever Super Cup title.

The win brought Real level with AC Milan and Barcelona who have also five Super Cup wins.

Veteran U.S. tennis player Serena Williams returns a ball during her match against Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic during the National Bank Open in Toronto, Ontario, Canada August 10, 2022.

The first stop on Serena Williams’ farewell tour came to a quick end as she fell 6-2 6-4 to Belinda Bencic in second-round action at the Canadian Open on Wednesday a day after announcing her forthcoming retirement from tennis.

Williams arrived on the court to a standing ovation and had the full support of the capacity crowd throughout the 77-minute match but was unable to conjure up the old magic that helped her lift three titles in Canada.

“It’s been a pretty interesting 24 hours … I’m terrible at goodbyes. But, goodbye Toronto,” an emotional Williams told the crowd.

“I always had amazing times here both on and off the court. I’ll be coming back just as a visitor to the city but otherwise its been remarkable.”

After the match, Williams was presented with team jerseys of Toronto’s NBA and NHL teams for her and her daughter, who was in attendance, as well as a bouquet of flowers that she carried off the court while wiping back tears.

Prior to the match, a tribute video was played featuring comments from tennis pioneer Billie Jean King, current players like Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu as well as ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky and highlights of Williams’ Canadian triumphs.

The highly-anticipated match was played a day after 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams revealed in a Vogue article that she was “evolving away from tennis” and planned to retire from the sport she has dominated for over two decades.

Olympic champion Bencic saved the lone break point she faced in the opening set and broke Williams twice to jump ahead 5-2 but the Swiss 12th seed then needed five set points to clinch the opening frame.

In the second set, Bencic got the one break she needed to go ahead 4-3 when Williams struck a double-fault and the Swiss never looked back as she sealed the match on her serve when Williams sent a return long.

“It was a lot of emotions obviously,” Williams said about how it felt to take the court. “I love playing here, I’ve always loved playing here. I wish I could’ve played better but Belinda played so well today.”

Up next for Bencic will be Spanish eighth seed Garbine Muguruza, who was a 6-4 6-4 winner over Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi.

Among the others reaching the last 16 of the tune-up event for the Aug. 29-Sept. 11 U.S. Open were world number one Iga Swiatek, defending champion Camila Giorgi, Coco Gauff, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino

Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe says the continent will throw its weight behind incumbent FIFA president Gianni Infantino as the latter seeks a third term in office at the 73rd FIFA congress next year.

Motsepe confirmed all 54 member associations of CAF have resolved to vote for Infantino, despite the fact that the identity of any potential challenger is not yet known.

With no opponent emerging yet, Infantino could stand unopposed again, as he did in 2019.

“We discussed at the executive committee meeting that in recognition of the huge contributions, commitment and the track record that you’ve built in terms of improving African football, all 54 member nations have taken a resolution to vote for you for re-election,” Motsepe told Infantino at the CAF General Assembly in Arusha on Wednesday.

Infantino was first elected FIFA president in February 2016 and has spent a lot of time in Africa, whose 54 nations are more than a quarter of FIFA’s 211 member associations and therefore make up a powerful voting bloc.

Motsepe has long been seen as an ally of Infantino and the two appeared together at the launch of a proposed African Super League for clubs that was also announced on Wednesday and is due to start in August 2023.