NEW YORK — Serena Williams’ trailblazing tennis career ended with one last blast of fire on a cool summer night at the U.S. Open, the scene of her first major triumph in 1999.
Williams, who recently said she’s ready to move away from competition to spend more time with her family and business ventures, fought back several times against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic and won a dramatic tiebreak in the second set, but Tomljanovic prevailed, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1 in their third-round match Friday night. With tears in her eyes and the roars of an adoring crowd in her ears, Williams walked off the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium one last time to continue her evolution, the term she prefers to retirement.
Speaking to ESPN commentator Mary Joe Fernandez on the court moments after the match, Williams said “you never know” if she might reconsider her plan to stop playing. Asked later if that meant she had left herself some wiggle room to come back, she joked, “I always did love Australia,” where she won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles.
