The American legend Serena Williams, who previously announced that she will retire from tennis soon, bid farewell to the Canadian audience with her loss in the second round of the Toronto tournament against the Swiss Belinda Bencic.

The 6-2, 6-4 loss on Wednesday was not unexpected against last year's Olympic gold medalist, as Serena was playing only her third singles match in 2022 competitions.

Williams had an emotional farewell on the court where she shed tears as she said goodbye to the Canadian crowd that supported her throughout the match.

She said in an on-court interview: "I love playing here, I have always loved playing here. I wished I played better tonight but Belinda played well."

Williams, who will turn 41 next month, defeated Spanish player Nuria Diaz on Monday, achieving her first singles win since the 2021 French Open 14 months ago.

But she shocked the sports world when she revealed in an article in Vogue magazine and posted on Instagram on Tuesday that "the countdown has begun" for her retirement, which will probably be after the US Open starting at the end of this month, knowing that she will participate before that in Cincinnati.

She continued on the court with a trembling voice: "As I said in my article, I am very bad at goodbyes. But goodbye.. Toronto."

On the other hand, Tunisian Ons Jabeur, ranked fifth globally, withdrew while trailing 6-1, 2-1 in her second-round match against Chinese Qinwen Zheng (51) due to stomach pain.

Jabeur's modest results have continued since reaching the Wimbledon final, the third Grand Slam tournament, after she was also eliminated from the quarterfinals of the San Jose American tournament on hard courts last week.