Serena Williams played what she said could be her last tennis match on Friday night, bowing in the third round of the US Open to end one of the greatest individual careers in sport. .
Williams fell to Ajla Tomljanović, 5-7, 7-6, 1-6 in their evening match at New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium, in front of a raging crowd that came to bid farewell to the Grand Slam champion 23 times.
“It was a fun ride. It’s been the most incredible ride and journey I’ve ever been on,” Williams said in a tearful speech after the tense duel. “To everyone who’s ever said ‘let’s go Serena’ in their lives, I’m grateful, you brought me here.”
When asked emphatically on the field if it was the last game of her career, she replied: “I don’t think so, but you never know. I do not know.”
Williams, 40, said she intends to “grow” away from tennis, focusing instead on her venture capital fund and adding to her family with husband Alexis Ohanian, who co-founded Reddit. During her appearance at this year’s US Open, the United States Tennis Association commended Williams with numerous accolades, including speeches by media mogul Oprah Winfrey and tennis icon Billie Jean King following. her first round win on Monday night.
Williams’ career has spanned more than two decades, dating back to the late 1990s when she and her sister Venus started winning as teenagers. Since then, she has amassed the greatest number of singles wins of any player, male or female, since the Open Era of professional tennis began in 1968. Williams also won. She has won four Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles, and with over $94 million in career prize money, she has more than double her total on-court winnings than any other player on the tour. women’s match.
The Williams era in tennis coincides with the “Big Four” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray on the men’s tour – all consistent rankings that have inspired a generation fans and players and dominated the major championships for much of this century.
John McEnroe, seven-time Grand Slam champion and tennis analyst for ESPN, said Williams’ retirement would leave “a huge void. At the moment, it’s almost impossible if not impossible to fill those shoes.”
In New York this week, fellow tennis players expressed gratitude for both Williams sisters’ influence on the game.
Ons Jabeur, who this summer became the first African woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon, said the Williams sisters were stars in her native Tunisia. “I had to watch Serena grow up so much, and like seeing her, the way she was really consistent in a lot of things and breaking records everywhere. Her and Venus, to be honest with you. Can’t believe what they’ve done for this sport.”
Earlier at the tournament, Williams and her sister Venus competed in the women’s doubles for the first time since 2016 but failed in the first round on Thursday. Venus gave no indication of her future plans to compete but said in leading their doubles meeting that “more than anything, I just want to stand my ground and be a good sister”.
Tomljanović says she doesn’t expect to beat Williams. “I really feel sorry because I love Serena as much as I do.”
She added: “This is just a surreal moment for me. . . She is the greatest of all time.”
