Serena Williams, the GOAT, the legend, and the icon lost her final match as a professional tennis player in the third round of the US Open.
Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia defeated Williams 7-5, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1 on Friday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The three-hour encounter featured a spectacular, lengthy comeback that resulted in a tense tiebreak in the second set before Tomljanovic finally won the match in the third, capping off one of the best and most-watched matchups of the tournament.
Williams became emotional as she walked off the court. In her on-court postmatch interview, she cried “happy tears, I guess” as she thanked her parents and sister, Venus.
A speech worth of the 🐐@serenawilliams | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/0twItGF0jq
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2022
Thank you so much, you guys were amazing today. I wish I played a little bit better. Thank you daddy, I know you’re watching. Thanks mom,” Williams said on the court. “I just thank everyone that’s here, that’s been on my side so many years, decades. Oh my gosh, literally decades. But it all started with my parents, and they deserve everything, so I’m really grateful for them.
“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.”
Following a close first set, Williams went up 4-0 in the second and appeared poised to force a third.
Despite this, Tomljanovic won four straight games to close out the first set, forcing a tiebreak. She nearly won it as well, but Williams came out on top 7-4 to force a third set.
Despite going up 1-0 with a break in the final set, Williams dropped the next two sets quickly and appeared exhausted after more than 2 1/2 hours on the court.
Tomljanovic rolled from there, even with what appeared to be the entire stadium against her, to win the final set and advance to the fourth round, effectively ending Williams’ career.
“I’m feeling really sorry, just because I love Serena just as much as you guys do and what she’s done for me, for the sport of tennis is incredible,” Tomljanovic said after her win. “I never thought that I’d have a chance to play her in her last match when I remember watching her as a kid in all those finals. This is a surreal moment for me.”
"I love #Serena just as much as you guys do." pic.twitter.com/7i1hrUsmAy
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2022
As for Williams’ future plans, she didn’t close the door on playing again.
“I don’t think so but you never know,” she said when asked if she’ll come back. “I don’t know.”
Williams is more than this one loss
This is not how Williams wished to end her career, but it is not what she will be remembered for.
Her career has been far too incredible and far too significant for any single moment to define her.
Williams first picked up a tennis racket at the age of three (though she claims it was 18 months), and her fate was sealed.
As Venus Williams’ younger sister, she spent time watching her sister play, succeed, and fail, all while hiding in the shadows and learning everything she could from what she saw.
Venus took the centre stage first, but Serena was close behind. She made her debut in 1999, winning the US Open, and then in 2002-2003 accomplished what is now known as the Serena Slam: holding all four Grand Slam titles at the same time over two calendar years.
She won the French Open in 2002, Wimbledon in 2002, the US Open in 2002, and the Australian Open in 2003. In each of those finals, she had to beat her own sister to win the trophy.
Williams would win the Serena Slam once more in 2014-2015.
She never completed a calendar Slam (winning all four majors in the same year), but she was the first tennis player in history to complete a Career Golden Slam (winning all four majors as well as the Olympic gold medal) in both singles and doubles.
Williams is so dominant in singles that her doubles career, which she shared with Venus, is often overlooked. They are still unbeaten in Grand Slam finals as a doubles team, having won 14 and losing none.
Williams was the world’s top-ranked tennis player according to the WTA for a total of 319 weeks.
Only Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf spent more time at the top than she did.
She frequently choose to concentrate on Grand Slams rather than playing frequently on the WTA tour, yet she still managed to win 73 singles titles, placing her fifth all-time in the history of women’s tennis.
She won 23 Grand Slam titles, the most in the Open Era, and one behind Margaret Court for the all-time record.
Breaking boundaries led to support and criticism
While Williams was talented, she was more than that, making headlines and turning heads in ways that extended beyond tennis and athletics in general. She was fearless and unconcerned about the expectations placed on female tennis players.
She wore outfits that had never been seen on a tennis court before, including bright colours, catsuits, and tutus. She wore her hair in a variety of styles, including braids, beads, straight, and natural.
She proudly displayed her body, refusing to hide the muscles she had worked so hard to achieve.
She rose to fame as a fashion icon, appearing on the cover of Vogue by herself, designing multiple clothing lines, and becoming a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.
At the same time, there were few athletes who inspired such passion from the public — both for and against her.
Her hair and tennis attire were criticized. She was chastised for being overly muscular and overly loud when she played. She was chastised for bringing up race in the context of tennis.
Williams wasn’t a perfect player, and she’s not a perfect human, so some criticisms were justified, such as when she was chastised for being too selfish and combative during the 2018 US Open women’s final against Naomi Osaka, which she lost.
Even that example has a racist twist. Following that match, an Australian newspaper published a racist cartoon of Williams, depicting her as overly muscular and animalistic with an ape-like face and huge lips, while Osaka was depicted as a blonde white woman.
Some of Williams’ criticisms were justified, but others stemmed from her status as a Black woman who dared to challenge the white female norms of the sport.
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Williams’ legacy is immense
Williams was so good for so long that she has been competing against players who began playing tennis because they saw her do it.
They are the Serena Generation, each playing in their own unique style while carrying a piece of Williams with them at all times.
As a result, her legacy will only grow. The Serena Generation isn’t static because her legacy in tennis will continue to influence young girls and women all over the world, whether or not they play tennis.
And the women who were inspired by Williams will inspire a new generation, carrying her legacy forward long after she has retired from competition. Players like Coco Gauff were able to run because Venus and Serena walked. And Gauff is running so that others can fly in the future.
Williams was dominant for a long time, and in individual sports, mental preparation and performance are just as important as physical ability.
"I wouldn't be Serena if there wasn't Venus."@serenawilliams 💙 @Venuseswilliams pic.twitter.com/C7RZXcf23E
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2022
The only true comparison is Tiger Woods, who also competed in a solo sport. Both were enormously successful in ways that went beyond sports.
Both challenged white norms and the predominantly white history of their sports.
Both athletes came close to breaking a record in their respective sports, with Woods still trailing Jack Nicklaus by three major championships and Williams retiring one major championship short of Margaret Court’s 24 Grand Slam victories.
But, if failing to meet expectations does not define Woods’ legacy, it certainly does not define Williams’.
She did things that no one predicted or expected, whether you look at her career as a whole or on a micro level.
Even after more than a decade of success, no one could have predicted that she would (or could have) won 2017 Australian Open while eight weeks pregnant.
She then missed a full year of competition due to a pulmonary embolism caused by an emergency C-section that kept her bedridden for six weeks.
Few expected her to emerge from that with the same strength and drive she once had, but she did it anyway, returning in 2018 to make the finals in four Grand Slams and the semifinals in two others.
She’s done (nearly) everything she ever wanted to do in tennis, so she’s moving on. To focus on her venture capital firm, expand her family, and do whatever the hell she wants. She merits it.
Serena Williams is unique, and there will never be another like her. She did not just change tennis; she changed the world.
Thanks @serenawilliams!!! 😍🙌🏻 https://t.co/xgdCHAvDQh
— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) September 3, 2022
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