They came from far and wide for Serena — no last name required, befitting someone as much an icon as superstar athlete — to see her practice and play and, it turned out, win a match at the US Open on Monday night, turning out in record numbers to fill Arthur Ashe Stadium and shout and applaud and pump their fists right along with her. (More Tennis News)
Serena Williams is not ready to say good𝔉bye just yet. Nor, clearly, are her fans. And she heard them, loud and clear. In her first match at what is expected to be the last US Open — and last tournament — of her remarkable playing career, eve𒊎n if she insists that she won’t quite say so, Williams overcame a shaky start to overpower Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-3.
What memory will stick with her the most from the evening? “When I walked out, the reception was🃏 really overwhelming. It was loud and I could feel it in my chest. It was a really good feeling,” said the owner of six U.S. Open championships and 23 Grand Slam titles overall,ꦇ numbers unsurpassed by any other player in the sport’s professional era.
“It’s a feeling I’ll never forget,” she added🌃. “Yeah, that meant a lot to me.” This opening outing against Kovinic, a 27-year-♕old from Montenegro ranked 80th, became an event with a capital “E.” Spike Lee participated in the pre-match coin toss.
Former President Bill Clinton was in the stands. So were Mike Tyson and Martina Navratilova, sitting next to each other. And sitting with Dad and Gra✨ndma was Williams’ daughter, Olympia, who turns 5 on Thursday, wearing white beads in her hair just like Mom did while winning the U.S. Open for the first time at age 17 back in 1999.
Williams is now 40, and told the world three weeks ago via an essay for Vogue that she was ready to concentrate on having a second child and her venture capital fi🐭rm. Asked after her victory Monday whether this will definitively be her final tournament, Williams replied with a knowing sm🦋ile: “Yeah, I’ve been pretty vague about it, right?”
Then she added: “I’m going to stay vague, because you ne൲ver know.” The night session drew 29,000 folks, a high for the tournament — more than 23,000 were in Ashe; thousands more watched on a video screen outside the arena — and the place was as loud as ever. Certainly, louder than any other first-round match in memory.
Both player༒ꦜs called the decibel level “crazy.” Kovinic said she couldn’t hear the ball come off Williams’ racket strings — or even her own. Early, Williams was not at her best. Maybe it was the significance of the moment. There were double-faults. Other missed strokes, missed opportunities. She went up 2-0, but then quickly trailed 3-2.
Then, suddenly, Williams, looked a lot like the champion she’s been for decades and less like the player who came into this match📖 with a 1-3 record since👍 returning to action in late June after nearly a year off the tour.
“At this point, honestly, everything is a𓂃 bonus for me, I feel,” Will꧑iams said. “It’s good that I was able to get this under my belt. ... I’m just not even thinking about that. I’m just thinking about just this moment. I think it’s good for me just to live in the moment now.”
She r✃olled through the end of that opening set, capping it with a service winner she reacted to with clenched fists and her trademark cry of “Come on!” That was met with thunderous cheers and applause — as was the ending of the 1-hour, 40-minute contest, as if another trophy had been earned.
Instead, there is plenty more work to be done. Williams will play in the second round of singles on Wednesday against No. 2 seed Anett Kontveit of Estonia. And th🐷ere’s also doubles, too: Williams and her sister, Venus, are entered together in that competition, with their initial match slated for Wednesday or Thursday.
“Just keep supporting me🐻,” Williams told the 𒐪spectators, “as long as I’m here.” They surely will. They were there to honor her and show appreciation for what she’s done on the court and off. After watching the victory over Kovinic, spectators held up blue, white or red placards that were distributed at their seats to spell out “We (Heart) Serena.”
After Kovinic was introduced simply by name, making clear to even her what an afterthought she was on this muggy evening, 🥂Williams’ entrance was preceded by a tribute video narrated by Queen Latifah, who called the American the “Queen of Queens.”
The arena announcer called Williams “the greatest of all time,” and intoned: “This U.S. Open marks the final chapt🍒er of her storied tennis history.” She means a lot to a lot of people. As a tennis player. As a woman. As an African American. As a mother. As a businesswoman.
“When she started out, female athletes weren’t getting reco🐠gnized. She’s done so much,” said Quintella Thorn, a 68-year-old from Columbus, Geor🌱gia, making her eighth trip to the U.S. Open. “And now, she’s ...”
“Evolving,” chimed in Thorn’s friend, Cora Monroe, 72, of Shreveport, Louisiana, using the word Williams says she prefers t𒐪o “retirement.”
Which is why Monday mattered more than the usual Day 1 at 💛a major tournament. Andไ why the daily program did not make mention of any other of the dozens of athletes in action, showing instead a montage of six images of Williams holding her six U.S. Open trophies above the title: “Serena Williams, A Legacy of Greatness.”
And why there was a sense of less i📖mportance for matches involving wins for other elite players such as past U.♎S. Open champions Bianca Andreescu, Andy Murray and Daniil Medvedev, or French Open finalist Coco Gauff, an 18-year-old American.
After her own 6-2, 6-3 victory over Leolia Jeanjean earlier in the day, Gauff looked forward to sitting in Ashe herself 🍸to watch Williams, someone she credits with inspiring her to play t🦂ennis. Gauff’s original plan was to tune in on TV, but then she decided this was too important to miss.
“Everybody is going to be on her side. I’m going to be cheering for her,” Gauff said. “It’s going to be probably one of the most electric matc🐻hes that will ever happen in tennis.” Lived up to the billing. Now there is more to come for Williams and her supꦬporters.
