"Serena Williams is the greatest female athlete in the history of sports & one of the greatest athletes period

Serena Williams' farewell tour has generated quite the buzz on the tennis circuit with fellow players and experts chipping in with their views on the American's legacy in every other interview.

Speaking to Fox News recently, former World No. 1 John McEnroe described Williams — who, earlier this month, announced her decision to hang up her tennis racket following this year's US Open —as the "greatest female athlete in the history of sports" and "one of the best athletes – male or female".

McEnroe went on to say that Williams' on-court achievements put her in the company of Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and the likes, adding that the 23-time Grand Slam winner had nothing left to prove.

"Serena’s the greatest female athlete, to me, in the history of sports," McEnroe said. "I don’t care who you could come up with. She’s one of the greatest athletes period – male or female."

"She has put herself along the likes of Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, whoever you wanna say…," he continued. "She’s 40 years old. She’s done everything in tennis. She’s got nothing to prove."

Pointing to Serena Williams' interests outside of tennis, McEnroe said the tennis world was expecting her retirement sooner rather than later.

Speaking about the elusive 24th Grand Slam title that would have seen Williams equal Margaret Court's all-time record, McEnroe said that while it is unlikely to happen, it does not take away from what she has achieved over the course of her illustrious career.

"It sounds like she wants to have more kids, awesome," McEnroe said. "She’s got a lot of other interests. People want to be a part of what she’s doing. She’ll be doing just fine."

"We were sort of expecting this to happen," he added. "She wanted to win a couple more, one or two more, break the all-time record, win a couple after having her daughter. That doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen but that, to me, doesn’t take away that she’s the greatest of all time."

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Serena Williams to open her Cincinnati campaign against Emma Raducanu

Serena Williams at the National Bank Open Toronto.

Serena Williams' Canadian Open campaign last week was cut short after a straight-sets defeat against Belinda Bencic in the second round. But the American still has an opportunity to get some momentum going before heading to the US Open.

Williams will have to focus on getting as far as she can at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati this week. She has landed in the bottom half of the women's singles draw for the WTA 1000 tournament.

The American, however, has her work cut out as she opens against reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu. The young Brit stunned the tennis world by lifting the crown at Flushing Meadows last year after having come through the qualifying rounds.

Serena Williams and Emma Raducanu are scheduled to play in the first match of the evening session on Centre Court on Tuesday.