Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
John Minchillo/AP
Serena Williams acknowledges the crowd after losing in the third round of the US Open on Friday, September 2.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
People cheer on Williams at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Charles Krupa/AP
Williams reacts after losing to Ajla Tomljanović on Friday. “These are happy tears,” Williams said during her on-court interview.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Frank Franklin II/AP
Williams motions a heart to her fans after the match on Friday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams shakes hands with Tomljanović after the match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams returns a shot on Friday. The match lasted a little more than three hours, and Williams fought off five match points in the final game.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Fans cheer on Williams on Friday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Simon Bruty/USTA/AP
Williams serves during Friday’s match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams’ coach, Rennae Stubbs, and mother, Oracene Price, watch on Friday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams returns a shot on Friday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams reacts during Friday’s match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Mike Segar/Reuters
Tomljanović celebrates after winning the first set Friday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Fans watch as Williams is introduced at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams walks onto the court ahead of her match Friday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams and her sister, Venus, played doubles together on Thursday. They lost in the first round, however, to Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Frank Franklin II/AP
Williams, lower left, serves during Thursday’s doubles match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams takes pictures with fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium after her second-round singles win on Wednesday. She knocked off second-seeded Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams celebrates after her win Wednesday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams reaches for a shot during Wednesday’s match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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The fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium cheered every point Williams won on Wednesday, just as they did on Monday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams watches a replay during Wednesday’s match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams prepares to serve Wednesday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Golf legend Tiger Woods reacts to a Williams point on Wednesday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Kontaveit, a 26-year-old from Estonia, returns a shot.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams reacts after winning the first set tiebreaker on Wednesday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Julia Nikhinson/AP
Williams has won six US Open singles titles during her illustrious career.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Seth Wenig/AP
Williams serves during Wednesday’s match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Mike Seger/Reuters
Williams and Kontaveit pose before the start of their match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Julia Nikhinson/AP
Fans enter Arthur Ashe Stadium for Wednesday’s match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams’ sister Venus, left, watches Wednesday’s match near Woods and his partner, Erica Herman.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams walks onto the court before her match on Wednesday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium show their love for Williams after Monday’s opening win over Danka Kovinic.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
John Minchillo/AP
Tennis icon Billie Jean King congratulates Williams after Monday’s match. King also spoke during a post-ceremony recognizing Williams and her tremendous career.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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The crowd was firmly in Williams’ corner on Monday, cheering every point she won.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams reacts during the match on Monday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Julia Nikhinson/AP
Fans outside the stadium watch the Williams match on a video screen Monday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams returns a shot on Monday. It was just her second win since her return to the sport in June. She had missed a year through injury.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Darren Carroll/USTA/AP
Fans cheer for Williams during Monday’s match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
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Williams’ daughter, Olympia, takes a picture before her mom’s match on Monday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Simon Bruty/USAT/AP
Williams serves during Monday’s match.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
John Minchillo/AP
Williams and Kovinic pose for photos before playing Monday. Kovinic, a 27-year-old from Montenegro, is ranked 80th in the world.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Simon Bruty/USTA/AP
Williams walks onto the court before her match Monday. Many consider her to be the greatest women’s tennis player of all time.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
Williams warms up before her match on Monday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
John Minchillo/AP
Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, watches Monday’s match with their daughter, Olympia.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Tim Clayton/Corbis/Getty Images
Fans show their support for Williams outside the stadium Monday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Julia Nikhinson/AP
Williams walks to the practice court before her match on Monday.
Photos: Serena Williams’ final act
Charles Krupa/AP
Fans pose for photos next to a life-sized image of Williams on Monday.
CNN
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Serena Williams’ legendary tennis career has likely come to an end after she fell to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović in the third round of the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York.
The 23-time grand slam singles champion leaves an indelible mark, not only on tennis, but all of sport.
Tomljanović, who won the more-than-three-hour match 7-5 6-7(4) 6-1, advances to the round of 16 at the US Open for the first time.
In an on-court interview with ESPN after the match, Williams was asked whether she would reconsider her evolution away from tennis, as she has put it.
“I don’t think so, but you never know,” she said.
In a happy, tears-filled interview she thanked her parents, saying she was very grateful to them because they started everything.
And she credited her older sister, Venus Williams, for her success.
“I wouldn’t be Serena if there wasn’t Venus,” she said. “She’s the only reason Serena Williams ever existed.”
Tomljanović said she was feeling sorry because “I love Serena just as much as you guys do.”
“What she’s done for me, for the sport of tennis, is incredible,” she said in her interview on court. “I never thought that I’d have a chance to play her in her last match when I remember watching her as a kid in all those finals, so this is a surreal moment for me.”
Tomljanović was asked how she handled the occasion of being in this electric environment at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“I just thought she would beat me, you know,” Tomljanović said. “The pressure wasn’t on me. She’s Serena. I didn’t think that I – even to the last point I knew that she’s in a really good position to win even when she’s down 5-1. I don’t know how many match points I needed to finish it off, but that’s just who she is. She’s the greatest of all time, period.”
After her improbable second-round win over Anett Kontaveit, Serena Williams, 40, summed up her surprise performances at the US Open better than perhaps anybody else could.
“I’m just Serena,” she said matter-of-factly, a quote that will no doubt go down as one of the most memorable in sport.
That ability to find another gear and dig even deeper in the most difficult moments has provided the bedrock for Williams’ sustained success over more than 20 years on the Tour.
She showed the same grit and tenacity Friday as the world No. 46 Tomljanović was on top of her game.
“I’ve been down before,” Williams told reporters after the match. “I’ve been down, like, 5-1 I think before and come back. I don’t really give up.”
Williams, arguably the greatest women’s tennis player ever, fought off five match points before a shot into the net ended it.
“I tried,” Williams said. “Ajla just played a little bit better.”
Serena Williams: The numbers that made her a global superstar
The crowd of 23,859 inside Arthur Ashe Stadium for the night session tried to will Williams to another victory but on this night, the winner of 847 career matches and 73 titles was second best.
Given her form coming into the US Open – just one win since returning to the circuit in June after a year out with injury – it was fair to assume that Williams’ opening round match against Danka Kovinic would be little more than an emotional farewell from tennis for the 23-time grand slam champion.
But being “just Serena,” Williams produced by far her best tennis of the season to consummately dispatch Kovinic and extended her last dance in New York by a couple of days.
Then came Kontaveit, the world No. 2 and one of the toughest players on Tour. The Estonian would provide a much sterner test than Kovinic and Williams undoubtedly went into their match as the considerable underdog.
Surely, after two glittering decades at the top, this is where Williams’ career would come to end? Of course, it didn’t. She is, after all, “just Serena.”
In her three-set win over Kontaveit, Williams elevated her level of tennis to a place many thought she may no longer be able to reach. The accuracy and power in her widely feared serve seem to have returned, as has her speed around the court.
Tomljanović reached a career-high ranking of 38 this season and has enjoyed some notable success in 2022, including quarterfinal runs at Wimbledon and the recent Cincinnati Open.
On Friday she was steady as she had just 30 unforced errors to Williams’ 51.
She will face Russian Liudmila Samsonova in the round of 16. Samsonova defeated Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-3.