Serena Williams appeared to decline an on-court interview as the American great suffered another bruising defeat ahead of her imminent retirement, going down in straight sets to British teenage star Emma Raducanu in their first-round meeting the Cincinnati Masters on Tuesday.
Raducanu wasted little time seeing off the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, running away with a 6-4 6-0 victory in 65 minutes against Williams, who revealed last week that the upcoming US Open would be her swansong.
But unlike her previous appearance at the Canadian Open, where she gave an emotional interview in front of fans following a second-round defeat to Belinda Bencic, Williams was described as avoiding attempts to interview her on court in Ohio.
“Serena 0-2 since announcing her retirement. Emcee tried to stop her for an on-court interview for the crowd, but Serena blew past,” wrote tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg.
Instead, the 40-year-old icon congratulated Raducanu at the net and headed…
