It is less than a fortnight since we found ourselves wondering whether Roger Federer's tennis career might be over. Now the same doubts hover over Serena Williams, who has withdrawn from the US Open with hamstring trouble.
These two champions, born within seven weeks of each other in 1981, have defined the sport in the 21st Century. But their joint withdrawals herald the end of an era.
Williams' injury is the same one that led to her withdrawal from her first-round match at Wimbledon two months ago. According to her coach Patrick Mouratoglou, she has been following a rehab protocol designed to make her ready for the US Open, which starts on Monday. But when she suffered a minor setback in the process, it left her two weeks behind schedule, and she has been unable to make up the lost time.
The question now is whether Williams has the appetite for another season. She is highly unlikely to appear again in 2021 – partly because she has little interest in anything beyond the majors, and partly because of the cancellation of the usual WTA finale in China.
She might also baulk at January's Australian Open, which could well be afflicted by the same quarantine issues that made this year's event so controversial.
Announcing her withdrawal on Instagram, Williams was understandably vague about her next steps. She said that she needed "to allow my body to heal completely from a torn hamstring" and that "I'll miss seeing the fans but will be cheering on from afar". Then she added: "Thank you for your continued love and support. I'll see you soon."
On Twitter, meanwhile, she was soon posting about fashion – the area where she is increasingly focusing her energies.
Meanwhile, Mouratoglou was asked about Williams' future in an interview with Tennis Majors, his own website. "We didn't talk about that," he admitted. "We just talked about the US Open, that was the last goal of the season.
"First she has to digest, then we can sit and talk. Today, I'm not certain of anything in one sense or another."
Williams is believed to have been filming a documentary series about her life this year. Competitive tennis will be in short supply in the editing room. She played only 17 matches, winning 12 of them, with her best run taking her to the semi-final of the Australian Open.
That promising sequence ended when Naomi Osaka ousted her from Melbourne in relatively straightforward style, winning 6-3, 6-4. Today, the consensus is that Williams has lost too much of her edge and her mobility to secure the 24th major that she has targeted since her return from maternity leave in 2018.
Logic suggests that she will never equal Margaret Court's record. But then, given the vastly higher standards of Williams' era, she should probably be considered the GOAT – or greatest of all time – in any case.
Williams will turn 40 on September 26. In his interview, Mouratoglou was asked whether this age might represent a cut-off point, both for her and for Federer, who reached his own milestone on August 8.
He replied: "No one could ever imagine they would play competitive tennis at 40. You have a new deal in tennis, it's that champions can play longer, over 35, thanks to their unprecedented professionalism.
"Nevertheless, it's still a race against the clock. [But] tennis is a dramatically demanding sport. You have more and more injuries, the time needed to be fit again is longer. It reduces the competition periods, and so it makes things more and more complicated."
While Williams stands at No 22 in the rankings ladder, she is likely to slip back significantly by the end of the year.
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