Serena Williams said goodbye to the US Open and her great career after losing to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic on a dramatic night in New York.
Williams, who turns 41 this month, believes this will be her last match.
It will bring to a conclusion a 27-year professional career in which the American has won 23 major singles titles and is widely regarded as the best of all time.
Williams was defeated 7-5, 6-7 (4-7) 6-1, with tears streaming down her cheeks.
The former long-time world number one saved five match points in the final game but was unable to save a sixth.
Almost everyone who could rose to their feet as she walked off the court on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the site of her maiden major success in 1999 and five more of her greatest victories in her illustrious career, for the final time.
Tina Turner’s pop song ‘Simply The Best’ played as she waved goodbye and twirled.
Williams said when asked if she might contemplate retirement following her performances this week: “I’m literally playing my way into this and getting better. I should have started sooner this year. I don’t think so, but you never know.”
When she was interviewed in the middle of the court, Williams was filled with emotion, thanking her family, team, the crowd, and her fans all over the world for their support throughout the years.
“I thank everyone that’s here, that’s been on my side so many years, decades. Oh my gosh, literally decades,” said Williams, who played her first professional tournament as a 14-year-old in 1995.
“But it all started with my parents. And they deserve everything. So I’m really grateful for them.
“And I wouldn’t be Serena if there wasn’t [sister] Venus, so thank you, Venus. She’s the only reason that Serena Williams ever existed.”
Tomljanovic, who will face Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova in the fourth round, stood to the side and congratulated her opponent as she grabbed the microphone.
The world number 46 performed a great performance to drown out the noise and feeling of occasion, as seen by her clinical hitting in the last moments of a tough three-hour-and-five-minute match.
Williams delivers one last stunning performance for the A-list audience.
Williams has long been more than a tennis player, and her announcement of retirement in an essay for the luxury fashion magazine Vogue was a reflection of her standing as an American icon and one of the world’s most recognizable sports stars.
Although she did not use the term “retirement,” choosing instead to
