Maybe the first clue that retirement was going to be difficult for Serena Williams came in her first-person essay in Vogue, where she couldn’t even bring herself to say the word. Then there were the interviews throughout her month-long valedictory leading up to and during the US Open, where she deftly sidestepped direct questions and left the door open for a possible return. Even in the cathartic aftermath of Friday night’s third-round defeat to Ajla Tomljanovic, the sudden deluge of tears seemed to express a finality that she either could not or would not articulate in words.
“I don’t think so, but you never know,” she said, when asked if she would reconsider her decision. “I don’t know.”
