Rare is the athlete, legendary or ordinary, who leaves the arena entirely on his own terms. Serena Williams didn’t want her race to end on Friday night at Flushing Meadows in New York. But, barring a change of heart in the next few months, she’s done.
Williams’ denouement at age 40 came at the hands of a player almost 12 years her junior, Ajla Tomljanovic. One of the greatest tennis players of all time fell 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 in the third round of the US Open. It was Williams’ earliest start at this major since she was 16, since 1998. That was her first draw at this event.
A year later, he would begin his rise to world tennis dominance and win the US Open, the first of his 23 majors, a record in the open era of tennis.
Williams leaves the game second all-time in the majors after Margaret Court’s 24. In the eyes of most who know and love the sport, Williams reclaims the GOAT status that has been bestowed upon him in the winter of his momentous 23-year career. Given that she won 73 titles, 367 major matches, four Olympic gold medals and redefined what was possible on a tennis court, there is little argument against Williams being considered the most dominant, physical, athletic, graceful and inspiring player in the world. the history.
Trophies and records aside, the best thing that can be said about Serena Williams is that she played tennis like no one before her, and at the same time, her style cannot be duplicated. Like all legends, she has a singularity in the greatness of her.
And yet, he came into this US Open with uncertainty. Her expectations were lower for her than anything she had been playing with since she was 16 years old. She said so herself earlier this week. This was a farewell tour with no guarantee of more than one game.
But this is Serena.
It wasn’t going to end with a match.
She became the center of the sports universe once again this week, owning her legend and building on it, even without a deep run to the 21st and seemingly last US Open of her life. On Friday night at Flushing Meadows, Williams put on the kind of show that will live on as the final image of a virtuoso career. Even if the outcome wasn’t on her side, even if she didn’t completely dictate how she came out, she made sure to carve a memorable conclusion into an epic final chapter.
There is much to discover and gain by losing. With millions of spectators around the world and a riveted crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium watching every shot, Williams’ game was as inspiring as ever. On the heels of two amazing (but actually not that amazing) wins in the first two rounds, we all start wondering, if not try to imagine… Could something epic be in the works??
Not quite. But something memorable happened anyway. The way Williams delivered his career-closing performance was gripping enough to add to the legend of him. No, she didn’t go out on her own terms. However, she walked out with everything she had. Tomljanovic took 3 hours and 5 minutes to get Williams out of this 142nd US Open. It was the longest US Open match of Williams’ life. Appropriate.
His final game of his career featured eight deuces, six match points and took 14 minutes to complete. Down 5-1, Williams still managed to back Tomljanovic on his heels a couple of times, then tricked her into a net winner and dazzled the crowd once more.
However, the 29-year-old could not be cracked. The drama of tennis is how the end of a match can hinge on a swing of the racket. One point goes one way, the match is over. Another one goes, it is not known how much longer the battle lasts. Williams and Tomljanovic made those last 14 minutes feel like an hour.
And then, all too suddenly, it was over. The depressing sound of Williams’ forehand getting caught in the net was like a punch to the stomach. On. So. Fifty-three minutes into the final set of his career, Williams’ streak was over. A one-of-a-kind American sports star put on a marathon performance, one that ends with something of what might have been next.
Williams (officially ranked 605th in the world heading into the US Open) edged Tomljanovic (ranked 46th) 5-3 in the first set. At the time, it looked like Williams could make short work of a Friday night and set up a fourth-round match on Sunday that would truly become one of the biggest sports stories of 2022. Instead, Tomljanovic was able to match big serves with higher profits. . Over the course of three hours, he tickled the baseline and sideline by at least a dozen points, often to the annoyance of Williams, who has grown accustomed in his more than two decades of dominance to seeing opponents send those long shots.
Friday night was the first time these two played each other. Their only meeting should go down as one of the most memorable games of Williams’ career. Williams was not going to obediently go out. In a rare moment of sheer honesty from a professional athlete, Tomljanovic later said that he didn’t even expect to win.
“What he has done for me, for the sport of tennis, is just amazing,” Tomljanovic said. “I never thought I would get the chance to play her in her last match when I was a kid watching her in all those finals. This is a surreal moment for me.”
For all the praise Tomljanovic had for Williams after the match, he was unflappable for most of the night. His groundstrokes matched Williams’s authority. She grew firmer, more confident as the New York night wore on. Williams, a day after playing the last doubles match of her career alongside her older sister Venus de ella, was overcoming visible exhaustion with her trademark passion, vocal reinforcement and her granite will.
This was only Williams’ seventh match in a year.
This was inspiring as hell.
Tomljanovic changed the script of the first set, from down 5-3 to win 7-5. Williams came out and immediately won the first game of the second set. Then, everything started to click. He was reading Tomljanovic’s angles. The service was powerful, reliable. The classic powerful two-handed backhand was landing for Williams. She was up 4-0. She was sailing into a third set.
Until Tomljanovic messed it up again. Down 5-2, it was a marathon game of nine deuces and 24 points that lasted just over 15 minutes. Tomljanovic won, cutting it to 5-3. Then it was 5-5. They would go to the tiebreaker and Williams refused to be swept. It was at this point that the party invaded a memorable state. On her way to winning the second set in that tie break, Williams hit a 117 serve miles per hour, the hardest of the night.
More than two hours of game.
Everything you have, Serena.
From a competitive standpoint, it was everything tennis fans could have hoped for. Williams was being pushed but she wasn’t bending. She wouldn’t give this away. This game was so good, so exciting, so drenched in drama, you can’t blame Williams for questioning her decision to pull out of it in the months to come.
However, don’t trust it. This was not the desired result, but it was as satisfying as any loss could be. Now comes the next stage. In addition to being a fashion mogul, Williams is first and foremost a loving and devoted mother. At her post-match press conference, she guessed that she had spent all of her except maybe two or three days of her daughter Alexis’s life with her. Big family plans await.
Finals in sports can have a bittersweet element to them, but hearing Williams give an impromptu valedictory speech showed why now is the time and who made her the champion she will always be remembered for.
“Thanks, dad, I know you’re watching,” Williams told her father into a microphone when she was interviewed on the court after the game.
His voice began to crack. Some tears appeared.
“It all started with my parents and they deserve everything so I’m really thankful for them,” she said. “Oh my gosh. These are happy tears, I guess, I don’t know. And I wouldn’t be Serena if there wasn’t Venus. So, thank you, Venus… She’s the only reason Serena Williams existed.”
The stoic-looking older sister finally snapped as well. The cameras soon caught her wiping tears under the rim of her visor.
A great history of American tennis concluded on Friday night in Queens. Few things in sports have the emotional power and irresistible pull of an aging athlete diving into the depths of his competitive soul and reclaiming what made him great to begin with. During three final matches this week, for the first time in years, we got one last chance to see what made Serena Williams great.
Forty years old and fighting with all his might until the last push of the racket.
I couldn’t have it any other way.
Source: www.cbssports.com