Shortly after the announcement of her imminent departure from tennis, former world number one Serena Williams lost in the second round at the WTA tournament in Toronto.

The 40-year-old lost 6-2, 6-4 to Olympic champion Belinda Bencic from Switzerland on Wednesday (local time).

A day earlier, Williams had announced that she would soon retire.

"It was quite an interesting 24 hours," she said after her defeat against Bencic, who was 15 years her junior.

The American is expected to retire after the US Open, which begins at the end of August.

In Canada, she called out to the viewers: "I'm terrible at goodbyes, but: Goodbye, Toronto." Williams won a total of 23 Grand Slam titles, one more than the German idol Steffi Graf.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal is returning to the ATP tour after surviving an abdominal muscle injury.

As the Grand Slam record winner announced on Instagram on Wednesday evening, he will be taking part in the Masters tournament in Cincinnati next week.

"Very happy to play in Cincy.

Fly there tomorrow, ”wrote the 36-year-old Spaniard to a photo that showed him shirtless on his home island of Mallorca.

The tournament is intended to help Nadal prepare for the US Open in New York City, which begins on August 29.

Nadal suffered the muscle injury at the Wimbledon lawn tournament.

In the semifinals he was unable to compete against Nick Kyrgios from Australia.

Daniil Medvedev, meanwhile, suffered a small setback almost three weeks before the start of the US Open.

The world number one from Russia, who celebrated his first tournament win of the year in Los Cabos on Saturday, lost in the top duel of the second round of the ATP Masters in Montreal to Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios 7: 6 (7: 2), 4: 6, 2:6.

Kyrgios, number 37 in the world, also won his first singles title in three years in Washington on Sunday and also triumphed in doubles.

The extremely fit and spirited Australian fought back against defending champion Medvedev after losing the first set and used his first match point exactly two hours later.

Kyrgios meets his compatriot Alex De Minaur in the round of 16.

At the classic lawn in Wimbledon, Medvedev was not allowed to serve due to the sanctions against Russian professionals, but at the fourth Grand Slam of the year in New York (from August 29), the defending champion is again one of the favorites - especially since the start of Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic in Flushing Meadows requires a corona vaccination.

Either way, all eyes will be on Serena Williams there.