‘Told Me To Save This Photo’ – Tennis Journalist Unveils Rare Photo With Serena Williams As She Thanks Her for a ‘Lifetime of Inspiration’

American tennis player Serena Williams is arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, according to many fans and experts. Recently, she played the last match of her career in the third round of the US Open, where she unfortunately lost.

Safe to say, she has been an inspiration for many players from different generations. Recently, a rare picture surfaced on social media, where a junior tennis player was standing next to Serena, as she called her, an inspiration.

Serena Williams’ childhood photo resurfaces

Notably, the junior player named Rhiannon Potkey, who has become a journalist, shared an old photo of Serena from her junior days. In the caption, she wrote, “I was pretty disappointed after this loss. But my coach told me to save this photo because “one day that girl will win a lot of Grand Slams.””

“I am glad I listened. Thank you #Serena for a lifetime of inspiration,” she further wrote. 

Read More: ‘Won’t Say Goodbye’ – Martina Navratilova Adds a Surprising Twist in Her Farewell Tribute to Serena Williams at the 2022 US Open

As seen in the photo, Serena was holding the winner’s trophy; whereas Rhiannon Potkey, the other girl was holding the runners-up trophy. Safe to say, she has been holding on to this photo for a long time and feels proud to share this now.

It is worth noting that Serena was not as talented as Venus was in childhood. However, she developed her game and became possibly the greatest tennis player ever.

Serena’s farewell at the US Open 2022

In the third round of the US Open, Serena played her final match against the Australian tennis player Ajla Tomljanovic. After giving a tough fight to the Aussie player for more than three hours, Serena lost the match 7-5, 6-7, 6-1.

After the match, the 23-time Grand Slam champion became really emotional while giving an interview. In her speech, she thanked her parents and other family members for supporting her throughout the years. Most importantly, she thanked her sister Venus for pushing her to be the best. She felt that without Venus, Serena would not exist.

After the match, many current and former players and celebrities took to social media and congratulated her for having an amazing career and inspiring millions of people at the same time. Notably, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Coco Gauff, Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal, and others shared some lovely messages for the tennis player.

Apart from tennis players, many sporting personalities from different sports also hailed Serena and called her the ‘Goat’. Tiger Woods, LeBron James, James Harden, Simone Biles, and many others sent heartfelt farewell messages to Serena.

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