WTA: Serena Williams gets building on Nike Campus

What else is there for Serena Williams? Your supplier will soon want to name a building after the 23-time Grand Slam winner.

Phil Knight turns 80. Celebrate his birthday next February as a happy senior. Forbes Magazine named the founder and long-time boss of sporting goods manufacturer Nike number 15 on the list of the world’s richest people two years ago, and even if Knight lost a few seats there, it’s still living pretty easy.

Particularly as Nike’s flagship products have undergone an impressive renaissance in tennis in the past season: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal divided the majors among themselves, Grigor Dimitrov won the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati and the season’s finale in London.

Knight knows “his” superstars personally, a deep friendship connects him with many of them. In 1984, as the former marathon runner Uta Pippig told us, she took Knight personally to her side after leaving the Olympic marathon and comforted her in a restaurant. However, Serena Williams is particularly esteemed: in 2016, Nike had advertised in New York City with Serena’s portrait and the slogan “Greatest Female Athlete of All Time”. With crossed out female. Certainly not without consultation with former boss Phil Knight.

Now the 23-time Major Winner, who is expected to return to the Australian Open in early 2018, is to receive a special honour: Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, will be extended by four buildings, one of which will bear the name of Serena Williams. Two others are named after the Olympic champion and current president of the World Athletics Federation Sebastian Coe and the legendary college basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. The inheritance of sports in New York City is to be the inspiration for a new multi-storey car park.

It is not known how Serena Williams views the whole matter. That the returnee knows how to build up suspense, however, she has proven again with an instagram post in the last few days. Probably not in Phil Knight’s shoes, by any chance.