Serena Williams missed what is expected to be the last match of her important tennis career on Friday night, exiting the US Open in the third round against Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1. ahead of Ajla Tomljanovic. an electric crowd. Arthur Ash Stadium.
Not wanting to be silent, Williams avoided five match points to extend the three-hour process as some spectators stopped to watch, camera phones ready. Nobody, except of course Tomljanovic, wanted to finish it.
It happened on Tomljanovic’s sixth down when Williams made a pitch.
Williams turns 41 this month and recently told the world she’s ready to start “growing” away from her playing days (she’s expressed disdain for the word “retirement”), and while she was purposely vague about whether this Flushing Meadows appearance it’s real, it represents your final tournament, everyone assumes it will be.
They did so on Friday night and Williams immediately burst into tears on the court. When asked if he would change his mind, he replied, “I don’t think so, but you never know.”
If this was the ultimate hurrah, he took his fans on a thrilling ride to the minute in a hard court tournament that featured half a dozen of his 23 Grand Slam championships. The first took place in 1999 in New York, when Williams was just 17 years old.
But he faced 29-year-old Australian Tollianovic, who is in 46th place.
Williams led in every set, including the last one where he won 1-0 before losing his last six games.
At one point in the second set, Williams’ legs became tangled and she fell onto the court and dropped her racket. He finished with 51 unforced errors, 21 more than Tomljanovic.
Williams allowed a 5-3 lead in the first set. He did the same in the second, serving 4-0 and 5-2 and claiming five set points to finally get it. With 4 in total going into the tiebreaker, meaning Williams was three points away from defeat, he hit an ace at 117 mph, hit a winning forehand to complete the 20-fire exchange, then saw Tomljanovic continue to swing his forehands. .
The momentum seemed to be on Williams’ side. But he couldn’t come back, as he had so many times over the years.
“Oh my God, thank you so much. They were amazing today. I was trying,” Williams told the audience, hands on hips, before mentioning her parents, husband and older sister Venus, a seven-time Grand Slam champion.
“I wouldn’t be Serena if it weren’t for Venus. So thank you, Venus,” he said. “She’s the only reason Serena Williams exists.”
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
