Dthree hours earlier the sun had set in the most beautiful colors in the sea of skyscrapers over in Manhattan. Evening moods like this are part of the free supporting program of the US Open; there are always. But a player like Serena Williams will probably never see the world of tennis, the world of sport in general, again.
It was 10:22 p.m. local time on September 2 when the American’s last ball landed in the net in the 5: 7, 7: 6, 1: 6 against Ajla Tomljanović, bringing an incredibly long, great and spectacular career to an end. But it didn’t just end; in the three hours of the farewell performance there were many moments that bathed the dark sky over the arena in a light that rivaled the sunset.
But the last chapter from the beginning. As in Serena Williams’ first two games, the arena was packed to the rafters, and it was clear this time that the opponent would need extremely strong nerves to survive in the heated, at times almost hysterically charged atmosphere. Anett Kontaveit of Estonia had indicated after her loss to Williams in round two that at times it was almost unbearable.
Alja Tomljanović, the 29-year-old Australian, did remarkably well. She moved with the greatest of ease – body language gets points too – and didn’t look like her hand was shaking. She had previously said that maybe she would solve the matter in the same way as Novak Djokovic once did. He once said that when the spectators cheered on the opponent massively, he always imagined them calling his own name. In addition, it is a dream that she can actually play against the woman she has always admired.
She put on a great performance from start to finish, always playing on par with Serena Williams, never backing down, even when the going got tough. She was unfazed by any score or danger, and danger abounded as Serena Williams unpacked again.
Anyone who thought at the beginning of the tournament that this could be a rather painful end for the greatest player who has ever seen tennis, given the little practice this year and the recent lack of fitness, was amazed to see how she performed at her farewell tournament increased from rally to rally.
When asked afterwards how she would like to be remembered after the two and a half decades of her glittering career, which were among her standout attributes, she said there were many things, including her crazy intensity. And it was precisely with this intensity that she made the 986th and very last game, the 422nd in a Grand Slam tournament, an event. Whenever things got tight, she pushed the gas pedal to the floor with great determination and threw the ball to the other side with elemental force.
If you need cinematic evidence of how this woman has played all her life and got up again and again, you only need to watch a summary of the last fifteen minutes of the game. Williams fended off five match points in that quarter of an hour, and each time it looked like she could turn the thing around again. But Ajla Tomljanović didn’t let that happen.
Concentrated and courageous, she pulled through the biggest game of her career. That alone would have earned the audience’s undivided applause, but their response was only half-appropriate when she said she was sorry that the great Serena Williams’ career had come to an end. Somehow this moment feels surreal now. On the other hand, the place that will now be assigned to her in the history books of tennis is quite real – as the last opponent of the legend.
Serena Williams had already left the tennis court on which she had won the first of her 23 Grand Slam tournament titles 23 years ago. When she said goodbye she was very terrible, she said when she announced that she was about to start a new phase in her life. But then she did it pretty well.
It was moving how she first of all thanked her father in tears, who was sitting in front of the television in Florida. It’s still a fascinating thought that Richard Williams discussed with his wife Oracence more than 40 years ago that there was good money to be made in tennis players, they still needed two daughters.
The world of tennis should actually memorialize the man for the stoic perseverance with which he led the two against much resistance on a path that nobody could have imagined in their wildest dreams.