Pure grit and scintillating play – Williams’s curtain call against Ajla Tomljanović demonstrated how she changed all sport for ever
Serena Williams doesn’t much like the word “retirement”. The 40-year-old athlete thinks it sounds old-fashioned. She prefers to say that she is in “transition”, although she’s well aware that’s a sensitive concept in 2022, so generally when she’s asked about what’s next for her, Williams settles on “evolution”.
Whichever term she chooses, the undeniable facts are these: on Friday night in New York, Williams lost an exhilarating, excruciating third-round match at the US Open to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović. The stakes were huge, the quality of play scintillating. Williams, her opponent, the 24,000 people watching in an unhinged Arthur Ashe Stadium – where the cheapest seats were changing hands for more than $500 (£434) – and millions tuning in on screens knew this might be the last time we would ever see Williams compete on a tennis court.