The Albanese Government has axed the “wasteful and ineffective” COVIDSafe app — saying it cost $21 million and identified only two positive virus cases.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the app, which was launched in April 2020, identified only 17 close contacts over the past two years that hadn’t already been found through manual contact tracing.
“This failed app was a colossal waste of more than $21 million of taxpayers’ money,” he said.
“The former prime minister said this app would be our ‘sunscreen’ against COVID-19 — all it did was burn through taxpayers’ money.
“This failed app only found two unique positive COVID cases at the cost of more than $10 million each.
“It was contact tracers working on the ground who were the real success story.”
Users of the app had been prompted to accept an update this week with the message that it was being decommissioned.
“The COVIDSafe app is no longer being used to assist health officials with contact tracing,” the message said.
“Data is no longer collected and will be deleted from the National COVIDSafe Data Store.
“Data on your device will be deleted when you uninstall the app.”
When former prime minister Scott Morrison rolled out the app, he touted it as “a way out of lockdowns” for Australia.
But it was met with skepticism from the Australian public, with less than 800 of the 7.9 million users consenting to their data being added to the National COVIDSafe Data Store for contact tracing.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The News4JAX I-TEAM has obtained an audio recording cited by plaintiffs in recently filed court documents where a former Ascension St. Vincent’s orthopedic surgeon can be heard slurring his speech during an office visit.
A deposition video also obtained by News4JAX shows Dr. David Heekin appearing disoriented, slurring his words and having outbursts just months after his last surgeries.
Heekin is accused of botching hundreds of surgeries and faces 350 lawsuits alleging he operated on patients while he had a progressive neurological condition. The plaintiffs say numerous healthcare employees and noticed patients he had slurred speech and loss of balance and that he showed poor judgment and mood disturbances in his final years as a surgeon.
In hundreds of pages of documents, plaintiffs say hospital leadership was aware of the issues with Dr. Heekin for years but continued to allow him to operate.
ad
PREVIOUS I-TEAM STORIES: Lawsuits allege Ascension St. Vincent’s knew doctor wasn’t fit to operate but allowed him to perform surgeries | Could former Jacksonville surgeon or hospital accused in malpractice lawsuits face charges?
Plaintiff’s attorneys are asking for permission to seek punitive damages against St. Vincent’s Medical Center laying out their evidence in nearly 500 pages that detail botched surgeries, erratic behavior from the doctor, and documents suggesting that leadership at the hospital were alerted about his unfitness to operate .
ad
The plaintiffs say Dr. Heekin became the founder and director of St. Vincent’s Orthopedic Center of Excellence around 2012 and a promotional video was cited in their request to the court seeking permission to pursue punitive damages.
The plaintiffs allege the doctor changed when he got sick with a progressive neurological condition but continued to operate for years, causing hundreds of devastating injuries to patients from 2016 to 2020.
Plaintiffs allege Dr. Heekin can be heard on an audio recording slurring his speech during an office visit in February 2019.
The News4JAX I-TEAM has obtained an audio recording cited by plaintiffs in recently filed court documents where a former Ascension St. Vincent’s orthopedic surgeon can be heard slurring his speech during an office visit. A deposition video also obtained by News4JAX shows Dr. David Heekin appearing disoriented, slurring his words from him and having outbursts just months after his last surgeries.
Court records show a deposition of Dr. Heekin that was taken for a medical malpractice lawsuit in August of 2020, months after he retired.
“Towards the beginning of your deposition, you were asked about your retirement in July of this year. Do you recall that?” a lawyer asks.
“Yes,” Heekin replies.
“Doctor, I apologize for asking, but have you been diagnosed with a medical condition that makes it difficult for you to express your testimony today?” the lawyer asks.
ad
“Yes,” Heekin says.
“Does your medical condition, does it play some role in your decision to retire?” they ask.
“Yes,” he says again.
Hundreds of lawsuits allege Dr. Heekin would lose his temper and intimidate other healthcare providers at St. Vincent’s, often using inappropriate language that was consistent with a lack of impulse control.
The daughter of a patient provided a statement cited by the plaintiffs in a recent filing, saying Dr. Heekin did a knee replacement on her mom in 2018 and she was brought back to the emergency room a month later when her wound opened up.
The statement claims that when Dr. Heekin arrived that day, he was belligerent, slurring his speech, shaking, sweating and screaming at staff and her mother, telling her she “was toast.”
The statement also claims that Dr. Heekin was stumbling and mumbling. The Chief Medical Officer was called to diffuse the situation, and the woman and her family de ella told him about Dr. Heekin’s demeanor and behavior, saying they thought he had been strung out on drugs or had Parkinson’s.
ad
His reply? Dr. Heekin was just “passionate” about his patients and he was comfortable with him performing surgery, according to the statement, saying Dr. Heekin was born with a speech impediment. The plaintiffs allege that’s a lie.
The plaintiffs allege independent orthopedic doctors in the area saw so many inexplicably devastated patients of Dr. Heekin’s that one of them texted St. Vincent’s CEO Tom VanOsdol in January of 2020.
“We’re seeing a large uptake of SEVERE complication from Dr. Heekin. These patients will end up with above knee amputations and girdlestones,” the text read, referring to a salvage procedure that essentially permanently confines patients to wheelchairs. “I’m going to stop seeing his patients because I can’t take care of them all.”
The CEO responded it’s “very important for us to understand and investigate” and said he’d put the doctor in touch with St. Vincent’s Chief Medical Officer. However, Dr. Heekin continued performing surgeries that harmed patients at the hospital for months, lawsuits allege.
ad
Four days later, plaintiffs say employees texted each other: “No one is doing anything about it. He is out of his mind today. He’s so confused.” The texts continue to read, “he can’t form a full sentence.”
But even before then, the plaintiffs say leadership knew of possible issues with the Chief Nursing Officer saying in a deposition that the Chief Medical Officer was alerted about the doctor soiling himself in an airport in 2018, but she’s not aware of any call to action.
It’s also alleged that in September of 2019, Dr. Heekin crashed into a parked car “in broad daylight on a clear day” in the parking lot at St. Vincent’s and performed surgeries the same day, including on Jacqueline Rivera, who previously told the I-TEAM, the knee replacement left her legs different lengths.
ad
MORE | I-TEAM: Woman suing after she alleges knee replacement surgery left legs different lengths
“It’s just heartbreaking, you know, that we trust these hospitals. We trust our doctors,” Rivera said. “But you’re going to take advantage of your patients in that way?”
A St. Vincent’s employee testified that she brought concerns about Dr. Heekin to the clinical coordinator 10 to 15 times and in a meeting with the clinical coordinator and The Director of Surgical Services in 2019, she reported the director said essentially the same thing as the clinical coordinator: ”Patients are willingly going to him. They see how I talked before. It’s their choice.”
The plaintiffs say the evidence is clear: the hospital knew Dr. Heekin wasn’t fit to perform surgeries in his final years there, but they let him continue to operate anyway.
ad
The plaintiffs also allege the hospital disregarded patients’ complaints, saying the doctor was an independent contractor.
The hospital will have a chance to respond to the plaintiffs’ request to seek punitive damages, but court records show nothing has been filed yet.
In other court records, the hospital has denied allegations of wrongdoing and filed its own cross-claim against Dr. Heekin and the Heekin Clinic, alleging the doctor — not the hospital — should be liable to the plaintiffs for damages.
An attorney representing St. Vincent’s declined to comment to News4JAX about this story and we have not yet heard back as of Wednesday from attorneys for Dr. Heekin and the Heekin Clinic.
Copyright 2022 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
Extreme positions are the minority. Most workplaces already allow staff flexibility over their place of work. Only 6 per cent of people surveyed in Australia, Britain, the US, China and Singapore were required to work from home full-time and just 21 per cent had to work full-time in the office.
But the correlation between views on quitting and workplace style was unexpectedly strong, Mr Davis said.
The real sweet spot here is people that are in the office 60 per cent or 80 per cent of the time.
— Hassell researcher Daniel Davis
“It’s unusual to see such a strong relationship,” he said. “Often when you do this kind of survey, you could be up to one or two percentage [point]yes, but [to be up] something like twice, it’s a pretty strong relationship.”
The findings from Hassell’s 2022 Workplace Futures Survey into workplace attitudes and behaviors lay bare the choices for employers, as changes triggered by the pandemic have led to a questioning of previously accepted practices, particularly presentism.
The highest-profile extremes can be seen in Tesla boss Elon Musk’s insistence that staff spend at least 40 hours a week in the office and Atlassian’s approach, which allows employees to work anywhere (although co-CEO Scott Farquhar says they still need to come in four times a year to maintain social bonds).
The survey – conducted in March and April – found for the first time, after earlier versions in 2020 and 2021, that employee levels of engagement with their organizations had fallen noticeably after a two-year break from office routines.
But the highest levels of engagement, trust in their employer and sense of belonging in an organization came among workers who spent 60 to 80 per cent of their time in the office, while the levels for those full-time at home and full-time in the office were equally low.
Working at home has developed those expectations, and then they’re taking those expectations back when they come to the office.
— Daniel Davis
“The real sweet spot here is people that are in the office 60 per cent or 80 per cent of the time,” Mr Davis said.
Arguments for and against working from home will not be settled by claims about which is more productive. Asked why they chose to work in one of the two locations, respondents cited productivity in equal measure, canceling out the topic as a driver, the survey results show.
“Productivity is no difference, because it’s even,” Mr Davis said.
“Depending on who’s yelling loudest, we think of one of those as being a more productive workplace. But the truth is that you need both of them.”
The biggest reason for working from home, according to 40 per cent of respondents, was better work-life balance, followed simply by preference and then by fears of catching COVID-19.
The main reason people said they worked from the office was that they were required to, followed by access to materials or equipment found only in the office and then by it being easier to meet people.
But when asked what features they would want in their office, once it was safe to return, the wishlist was topped by free lunch and food, followed by fresh air from outside, access to gardens and green spaces, good coffee, distraction-free space , a private gym and space to take a nap or rest.
This showed that the office had to become more like the home working experience people had become used to, Mr Davis said.
“Working at home has developed those expectations, and then they’re taking those expectations back when they come to the office,” he said.
For all the bells and whistles a landlord or employer could put in, however, the biggest determinant of a worker’s willingness to be in the office was the length of commute they faced.
Commute length was cited as a much greater consideration, nine times that of having distraction-free space, for example, in choosing where people would work. This meant landlords couldn’t put their hope in one single measure such as fresh air access, Mr Davis said.
“It’s not like one single amenity, putting in a rooftop, is going to be enough to get people to come back to the office,” he said. “To overcome that influence of the commute, it really is a stacking up of a number of these different factors.”
The commute hurdle did not automatically make the case for smaller suburban office hubs, however.
“One of the reasons that people come back to the office was to meet other people,” Mr Davis said.
“If that’s the thing that’s attracting people back, then setting people up into a bunch of smaller suburban offices reduces the chance of that happening.”
A string of celebrities dazzled at a glamorous runway show hosted by Australian retailer David Jones on Wednesday night.
But while former foreign minister Julie Bishop’s “revenge” dress turned heads at the Sydney event, she wasn’t the only famous face who went all-out in the fashion stakes.
Model Natalie Roser “got dressed up” for the superstore’s Spring Summer fashion show, wearing a skin-tight black dress from Australian designer Effie Kats.
The $299 “Gia Mia Dress” is made from a “wet-look jersey” that clung to Natalie’s body, prompting a wave of comments on social media.
“Unsure if I was made for the dress or the dress was made for me…” the 32-year-old wrote on Instagram.
“Sizzling,” one user wrote in response, while another said: “Spectacular.”
“In both cases dress is yours,” another added.
While one described Natalie as looking like “catwoman”.
Fashion designer Pip Edwards was also at the event, wearing a pair of white wide-leg pants with a backless black top and sparkly Prada heels.
The former girlfriend of cricket star Michael Clarke posed alongside two of her PE Nation employees Claire Tregoning and Luke Morrell.
Pip later stopped for a snap with Julie Bishop, who was wearing a $3,750 metallic jacquard long-sleeved mini dress designed by French luxury fashion house Balmain.
The 66-year-old politician turned fashion icon finished her look with a chic black clutch and matching heels at the runway show, her first public appearance since her break-up with longtime boyfriend David Panton last month.
Former Miss World Australia Erin Holland looked sensational in a “liquid gold” dress from luxury Italian fashion designer Fendi.
She teamed her outfit with a bag from the same brand and a pair of gold Tony Bianco heels.
The catwalk showcased an array of spring and summer fashion from the best of Australian and international designers.
The NRL is in shock following the death of premiership-winning coach Paul Green, aged 49. Green is reported to have died in his Brisbane home on Thursday morning, with a post mortem to be conducted.
A star in his own right as a player, Green played 162 games across five different clubs as a halfback, five-eighth and hooker while also playing seven State of Origins for Queensland. But he will forever be remembered as the man who helped guide North Queensland to their maiden premiership in 2015.
In total, he was in charge of the Cowboys in 167 games with the 2015 title coming in just his second season as head coach. He left the club in 2020 and took over as Queensland’s State of Origin coach last year.
When he resigned from that job last September, it appeared certain he would resume his days as an NRL coach. He was linked to Wests Tigers at the end of last season and was expected to take on a role at the Dolphins next year.
Green’s death will hit the NRL hard. Beyond those still at North Queensland, he has coached several players across the game who began their careers in Townsville or played for the Maroons last year.
On Thursday night alone Cameron Munster, Xavier Coates and Viliame Kikau were among those due to take to the field just hours after learning of their former coach’s death.
Green was in Sydney only last weekend for the Cronulla ex-players’ reunion, a club where he played 95 games before moving north to the Cowboys. He was also a part of the Sydney Roosters’ 2002 premiership-winning squad, before finishing his playing days at Parramatta and Brisbane.
“We are deeply saddened at the tragic passing of Queenslander and former Bronco, Paul Green,” the Broncos tweeted. “A legend on and off the field gone far too soon.”
With just two years until water-saving deadlines of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, New South Wales is at high risk of not meeting its responsibilities.
Key points:
The eighth MDBA report card shows seven state-managed water-saving projects are at high risk of not being delivered
MDBA chief executive Andrew McConville says the environment is benefiting from the first decade of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan
Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says he is yet to speak to Water Minister Tanya Plibersek about buyback options
A new report card by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) shows that as of the end of July, New South Wales had formally submitted one of 20 water resource plans required to set out how water is used across catchments.
The recently appointed chief executive of the MDBA, former oil and gas lobbyist Andrew McConville, says the “New South Wales water resource plans are firmly in the red”.
“Without accredited water resource plans and a coverage catchment, it means that New South Wales is effectively working outside the basin’s compliance framework,” he said.
South Australia, Victoria and Queensland have completed their water resource plans.
Water projects at extreme risk
The eighth MDBA report card, released today, shows there are also a number of state-managed water-saving projects intended to recover large amounts of water for the environment “slipping behind”.
“There are seven projects that remain at high risk of not being delivered,” Mr McConville said, referring to the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism projects.
“That’s really going to require a concerted effort by the basin states to make sure that they can do everything they can to be delivered, and deliver that expected reduction in water recovery for irrigation community.”
The report card, released every six months, shows seven projects are considered at “high or extreme risk” of not being completed by June 2024.
Former Water Minister Keith Pitt had previously warned that some of these projects would not be completed on time.
Last week, a second review of the Water for the Environment Special Account (WESA) was tabled in the parliament, showing how little water had been recovered toward the 450 gigalitre target.
“I think that WESA report findings are not surprising… we’ve been indicating for some time, that delivering that target would be very challenging,” Mr McConville said.
He said while more work was required to complete the projects and reach the 450 gigalitre target, the environment was benefiting from the first decade of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
“We can already see what great benefits can be achieved by returning water to the river environment, with 2100 gigalitres in entitlements secured since the start of the Basin Plan,” he said.
Nothing is ruled out, minister says
Australia’s Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says he has not spoken to the water minister about the potential for the Commonwealth to buy water from farmers to meet environmental water savings targets.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a pre-election commitment to deliver 450 gigalitres of water to the environment — a target set out in the 2012 Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
Ms Plibersek has told the ABC that voluntary buybacks are definitely on the table.(ABC News: Matt Roberts)
The water for this target was to come from efficiency projects.
In 2018, state water ministers agreed to a strict criteria about how the water could be reallocated and it has long been reported that just two gigalitres have been recovered toward that target.
As recently as last week, Water Minister Tanya Plibersek said she was considering using voluntary buybacks as a way of meeting environmental water commitments in the basin.
Asked if the federal government would appeal to a legislated cap on water buybacks, Ms Plibersek told the ABC: “voluntary water buybacks are definitely on the table.”
“I have said that we are considering a whole range of measures, I’m not ruling things in or out at this stage,” she said.
The Victorian and New South Wales governments, and the federal Coalition oppose buying water entitlements from farmers, arguing enough water has been bought back from irrigators as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
Asked at the National Rural Press Club this week if he would discuss the possibility of buybacks with Ms Plibersek, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said he had not.
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t discussed water matters with Tanya up until now,” Mr Watt said.
“We’ve both been working on a few other things, but clearly it’s an issue that impacts on the [agriculture] portfolio. We remain committed to our election commitment about the 450 gigalitres.”
Nationals leader David Littleproud says Mr Watt’s remarks “show a sheer lack of understanding of the impact taking 450 gigalitres out of the consumptive pool would have on productive agriculture”.
“We’ve got all the states to agree on this, this trauma should not be reopened,” Mr Littleproud said.
A Southern California dermatologist accused of poisoning her husband allegedly spiked his hot lemonade multiple times with liquid Drano, police said.
The woman, a physician in Mission Viejo, was arrested on Aug. 4, after her husband contacted police saying he believed his wife was poisoning him and provided detectives with “video evidence supporting his suspicion,” police said in a Tuesday statement.
She was booked at the Orange County Jail, and posted a $30,000 bond on Aug. 5, but charges had not been filed as of Wednesday, according to police and an attorney in the case.
According to the statement, the husband told police he suspected he was being poisoned by his wife after becoming ill over the course of a month.
Her husband sustained “significant internal injuries,” but was expected to recover, police said.
The man’s attorney, Steven Hittelman, told USA TODAY on Wednesday that his client first began noticing a chemical taste in his drinks in March. He said he soon developed symptoms that eventually led to his doctor diagnosing him with esophagitis, stomach ulcers and gastritis.
Hittelman said his client recorded video of her dumping drain cleaner in his drinks at their Irvine home three times – July 11, 18 and 25.
In one of the videos, Hittelman said the woman removes plastic wrap covering her husband’s drink, pours drain cleaner in, and covers it back up.
“After the first video of finding out she was poisoning him, he took his morning tea and put Saran wrap over it,” Hittelman said. “She still peeled it off and put the Drano in it.”
The woman was arrested after a warrant was searched at the family home.
The day after her arrest, her husband filed for divorce and requested custody of their two children, Hittelman said.
The woman’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment by USA TODAY but told The Mercury News his client “vehemently and unequivocally denies ever attempting to poison her husband or anyone else. As a well-respected physician her goal de ella as always been to help people and never to harm them.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her de ella at [email protected] and follow her de ella on Twitter @nataliealund.
A 25-year-old McLaren Vale winery run by two brothers is the latest business to be snapped up by Dan Murphy’s operator Endeavor Group as it expands its premium wine portfolio.
Endeavor confirmed on Wednesday it was adding Shingleback Wine to its Paragon Wine Estates business for an undisclosed sum. It’s the second McLaren Vale business in the portfolio, alongside Chapel Hill, which the company bought from Switzerland’s Schmidheiny family in 2019.
Endeavor confirmed the purchase of Shingleback Wine on Wednesday. Credit:
Shingleback was founded in 1997 by brothers Kym and John Davey, who have overseen a 120-hectare family estate planted predominantly with cabernet sauvignon and shiraz.
Over the past two decades, the company has won a number of wine prizes, including the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy in 2006, and released a portfolio of brands including Shingleback, Red Knot and The Gate.
Kym Davey said the duo had mixed emotions about the sale but would stay close to the company, including farming the vineyards for the brands under Endeavor ownership.
“My brother and I had achieved what we were trying to achieve,” he said. The pair had come to the view that the best chance for ongoing growth of the brand was with new owners.
China’s wine tariffs have not had a significant effect on the business, which primarily exports to markets such as New Zealand and the UK.
Director of Endeavour’s Pinnacle Drinks arm Paul Walton said while the group’s primary focus was now to invest in growing the handful of winemakers it had recently bought, the business was still eyeing new acquisition opportunities.
“We will continue to look at options in the future if and when they come up. We certainly hope that the opportunities continue to come up,” he said.
In a legal filing to dismiss her ex Jason Sudeikis‘petition custody, director and actress Olivia Wilde has claimed the method in which she was served the custody papers was “aggressive.”
In case you missed it, back in April, Wilde was making a presentation at CinemaCon about her upcoming film Don’t Worry Darlingand while she was on-stage, she was handed a yellow envelope that had Sudeikis’ custody petition regarding their two children in it, which reportedly left her “mortified.” Watch that moment above.
READMORE:Kyle Sandilands welcomes first child with fiancée
Olivia Wilde was served on-stage at CinemaCon in April, with an envelope filled with custody papers. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)Wilde continued his presentation with the envelope in-hand. (Getty Images for CinemaCon)
Recent court documents obtained by the Daily Mail reportedly sees Wilde, 38, accuse the 46-year-old ted lasso star of embarrassing her professionally with the way the papers were delivered.
According to the publication, Wilde said in her court filing: “Jason’s actions were clearly intended to threaten me and catch me off guard. He could have served me discreetly, but instead he chose to serve me in the most aggressive manner possible.”
In the court papers, Wilde says “the fact that Jason would embarrass me professionally and put our personal conflict on public display in this manner” is not in their children’s best interests, and accordingly, she says that because Sudeikis has “made it clear we will not be able to work this out for our children’s sake outside of the court system,” she decided to file for custody in a Los Angeles court.
READMORE:Single act hairdresser warns women to ‘never’ do
Wilde and actor Jason Sudeikis were together for nine years before their split in 2020. (Getty)
The former fiancés, who were together for nine years, share eight-year-old son Otis, and five-year-old daughter Daisy.
It was previously reported Sudeikis “had no prior knowledge” Wilde would be served child custody papers at CinemaConand according to the publication, Sudeikis reiterated in his own court filing that he had no intention of Wilde receiving the papers how she did at CinemaCon, and instead initially had plans for Wilde to be served at the hotel she was staying at for CinemaCon in Las Vegas, which went awry.
Sudeikis apologized for the delivery method in his court filing, and said although he understands the process server “had only done her job,” he “deeply” regrets how the situation unfolded and how it “marred” her “special moment” at CinemaCon.
The actor’s court filing also reportedly details how Sudeikis requested for Wilde to be served at Heathrow Airport, and that he did not want her to be served at the home of Harry Styles – her current partner – as the children may have been present, nor did he want Wilde to be served at their children’s school, as other parents may have been present.
READMORE:Scammers use Dr Katrina Warren’s identity to fleece her fans
Wilde is now dating Harry Styles. (GC Images)
People also claims to have obtained court documents, which the publication says includes the judge siding with Wilde and granting her motion to dismiss Sudeikis’ custody petitions that were filed in October as “this court finds that New York does not have jurisdiction to hear the custody petitions as New York is not the home state of the subject children.” The custody case will stay in California.
In October 2020, Sudeikis and Wilde announced the end of their nine-year relationship. Sources at the time cited Wilde’s relationship with One Direction alum Styles, 28, as the main reason for the breakup, however Wilde has said rumors of an affair between she and Styles are false.
Styles and Wilde’s relationship started making headlines in January 2021. The duo met when he was cast in Don’t Worry Darlingwhich is at the center of its own messy rumors.
For a daily dose of 9Honey,subscribe to our newsletter here.
Former Spice Girl Mel C splits from long-time partner
An emotional Serena Williams has wiped away tears after being beaten by 12th seed Belinda Bencic in Toronto.
Just a day after confirming the end of her career is near, the 40-year-old couldn’t match it with her Swiss opponent, who was relatively untroubled in the 6-2 6-4 victory.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It’s been a joy playing in front of you guys all these years, so thank you,” Williams said after the match, the tears welling in her eyes.
READMORE:The real punishment in coach’s ‘dog’ meltdown
READMORE:Kyrgios stuns world No.1 Medvedev
READMORE:Master coach set to snub club for AFL rivals
“It was a lot of emotions, I’ve always loved playing here, I wish I could have played better but Belinda played so well.
“It’s been a pretty interesting 24 hours.
“It’s just been so memorable. I’m terrible at goodbyes, but goodbye Toronto.”
The match started with a video tribute to Williams from the likes of Billie Jean King and Wayne Gretzky.
“We’ve been very blessed to have Serena Williams in our sport,” King said.
“Great athlete, a lot of people think she’s the GOAT, and I think every generation gets better, so right now, she’s the GOAT.
Billie Jean King pays tribute to retiring Serena Williams
“Serena has transcended our sport, gone way beyond the boundaries of just being an athlete.
“It’s just the beginning for Serena.”
The crowd was right behind Williams during the match against Bencic, but the tone was set early, when Williams was broken to love early in the first set, giving up the break with a double fault.
On the next point she missed a routine volley with the court wide open, the gulf between her and the 12th ranked player in the world painfully obvious.
An emotional Serena Williams after being beaten by Belinda Bencic in Toronto. (kayo)
Bencic needed five sets points to close out the first set, even surviving a break point, the only such opportunity Williams would have during the match.
The second set went to script as well for Bencic, who broke Williams in the seventh game before serving out the match.
“Tonight was really special, it’s quite overwhelming, I never imagined to play Serena so many times and it’s always an honor to be on the court with her, that’s why I think tonight is about her,” Bencic said.
Serena Williams in tears after her loss to Belinda Bencic in Toronto. (kayo)
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter byclicking here!
Serena Williams at the Australian Open: Legend’s transformation after 1998 debut
