Rare is the athlete, legendary or ordinary, who leaves the arena entirely on his own terms. Serena Williams didn’t want her career to end Friday night at Flushing Meadows in New York. But, barring a change of heart in the coming months, it was over.
Williams’ undoing at age 40 came at the relentless hand of a player nearly 12 years her junior, Ajla Tomljanovic. One of the greatest tennis players ever fell 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 in the third round of the US Open. It was Williams’ first start in this competition since she was 16, until 1998. This was her first draw in this event.
A year later, he began his rise to world tennis dominance and won 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 behind Margaret Court’s 24. In the eyes of most who know and love the sport, Williams lays claim to the GOAT status that has accrued to him over the winter of his 23 transcendent years. Considering how 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 the game.
Outside of the trophies and records, the best thing you can say 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, it has a singularity in its greatness.
And yet, he entered this US Open with uncertainty. The expectations for her were lower than anything she had played with since she was 16. She said so herself earlier this week. This was a farewell tour with no guarantee of more than one match.
But this is Serena.
He wasn’t going to end a game.
This week he became the center of the sports universe once again, owning his legend and building on it, even without a deep insight into the 21st and apparently final US Open of his life. On Friday night at Flushing Meadows, Williams put on the kind of show that will stand as the final image of a virtuoso career. Even if the outcome wasn’t on his side, even if he didn’t completely dictate the way out, he made sure to carve out a memorable conclusion in an epic final chapter.
There is much to discover and gain by losing. With millions of people around the world watching and a packed crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium hanging on every swing, Williams’ play was as inspiring as ever. After two surprising (but not so surprising) wins in the first two rounds, we all began to wonder, if not try to imagine… something epic could be in the works?
Not exactly. But something memorable happened anyway. The way Williams put together his career-closing performance was compelling enough to add to his legend. No, he didn’t go out on his own terms. He came out with everything he had, though. It took Tomljanovic 3 hours and 5 minutes to knock Williams out of this 142nd US Open. It was the longest US Open match of Williams’ career. fit
The final game of his career featured eight deuces, six game points and took 14 minutes to complete. Down 5-1, Williams still managed to get Tomljanovic back on her heels a couple of times, then trick her into a clean winner and dazzle the crowd once more.
However, the 29-year-old couldn’t break through. The drama of tennis is how the end of a match can depend on one swing of the racket. One point goes one way, game over. Another thing is, there’s no telling how much longer the battle will last. Williams and Tomljanovic made those final 14 minutes feel like an hour.
And then, all too suddenly, it was over. The depressing sound of Williams’ forehand shot being caught in the net was like a punch to the gut. Finished. Just like that. Fifty-three minutes into the final set of her career, Williams’ career was over. A one-of-a-kind American sports star put on a marathon performance, ending what could have been next.
Williams (officially ranked 605th in the world heading into the US Open) led 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 Sunday fourth-round match that would truly become one of the biggest sports stories of 2022. Instead, Tomljanovic was able to match big serves with greater returns. . Over the course of three hours, he tickled the baseline and sideline for at least a dozen points, often to the chagrin 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 had played. Their only meeting should be one of the most memorable matches of Williams’ career. Williams was not going to go out obediently. In an unusual moment of stark honesty from a professional athlete, Tomljanovic said afterward that he didn’t even expect to win.
“What he has done for me, for the sport of tennis is incredible,” Tomljanovic said. “I never thought I’d get a chance to play with her in her last game 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, she was unfazed for most of the night. His groundstrokes matched Williams’ authority. She grew steadier, more confident as the New York night wore on. Williams, a day removed from playing the final doubles match of her career alongside older sister Venus, was overcoming some visible fatigue with her passion, vocal reinforcement and gritty will.
This was just Williams’ seventh game in a year.
That was inspiring as hell.
Tomljanovic flipped the script in the first set, coming from 5-3 down to win 7-5. Williams came out and immediately won the first game of the second set. Then everything started to click. I was reading Tomljanovic’s angles. The service was powerful, reliable. The vintage, powerful two-handed backhand was landing for Williams. She went 4-0. He was cruising to a third set.
Until Tomljanovic spoiled it again. Down 5-2, there was a marathon game with nine twos and 24 points that lasted just over 15 minutes. Tomljanovic won, closing 5-3. Then it was 5-5. They would go to a tiebreaker and Williams refused to be swept. It was at this point that the match reached memorable status. En route to winning the second set in that tiebreaker, Williams hit a 117 serve miles per hour, the hardest of the night.
More than two hours of the match.
All you got, Serena.
From a competitive standpoint, it was everything tennis fans could have hoped for. Williams was being pushed, but she wasn’t giving in. She wouldn’t give this one away. This match was so good, so exciting, so full of drama, you couldn’t blame Williams for second-guessing his decision to retire in the coming months.
Don’t rely on it, though. This wasn’t 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 above all else a doting and devoted mother. In her post-game press conference, she assumed that everything but maybe two or three days of her daughter Alexis’ life with her has passed. Bigger family plans await.
Sports endings can have a bittersweet element to them, but hearing Williams give an impromptu farewell 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 said into the microphone to her father when she was interviewed courtside after the game.
His voice began to crack. A few tears appeared.
“It all started with my parents and they deserve everything, so I’m very grateful to them,” he said. “Oh my God. Those are tears of happiness, I guess, I don’t know. And I wouldn’t be Serena if Venus wasn’t there. So, thank you, Venus… She’s the only reason Serena Williams ever existed. “
The stoic-looking older sister also broke down. The cameras soon caught her wiping away tears under the brim of her visor.
A great story in American tennis found its conclusion Friday night in Queens. Few things in sports carry the emotional power and irresistible pull of an aging athlete digging into the depths of their competitive soul and reclaiming what made them great to begin with. For three finals matches this week, for the first time in years, we got one last chance to see what great Serena Williams did.
Forty years old and fighting with the guts until the final push of the racket.
I couldn’t have it any other way.
