History will record that Ajla Tomjanovic advanced to the fourth round of the women’s U.S. Open tennis tournament late Friday night when her opponent slapped a forehand into the net in the final game
Tomjanovic won in three sets, but her victory may be one of the few times in the Open’s history where the winner seemed invisible.
To be sure, Tomjanovic, ranked 46th in the world before the tournament, got to keep playing, but that moment belonged entirely to the vanquished, Serena Williams.
That time was Williams because it appears that it was her last as a competitive player, bringing to an apparent close one of the storied careers in American sports lore.
We say apparent because Williams has refused to use the word retire, saying instead in a recent Vogue Magazine piece that she is quote evolving away from tennis unquote.
If, however, Friday was it, then Williams, who is a few weeks short of her 41st birthday, leaves as, arguably one of, if not the greatest, tennis players ever, regardless of gender.
For most of the last 25 years, Serena Williams has dominated women’s tennis in a manner no one ever has. She spent nearly 320 weeks – the rough equivalent of six full years atop the Women’s Tennis Association rankings.
She won 23 Grand Slam titles, including six at the U.S. Open alone, capturing all four of the Slams at least once. Though she fell one short of Margaret Court’s career mark of 24, most knowledgeable tennis followers consider Williams’ mark to be superior.
That’s because Court, an Australian, did not play in what is known as the Open era, where professionals and amateurs competed together. Court won the bulk of her titles in the Australian Open, a tournament Serena Williams won while pregnant.
Williams, one of the first women to register a serve clocked at over 120 miles-per-hour, was not only physically dominant, but enjoyed a mental mastery of the game that allowed her to win some matches just by her presence on the other side of the court.
As a testament to Williams’ dominance, Tomjanovic said after Friday’s match that even as she was leading 5-1 in the deciding set with five match points, she still thought Williams would win, adding quote “She’s the greatest of all time.”
Indeed, there’s no telling how many more matches and Grand Slam title Serena Williams would have won if not for the presence of her older sister, Venus,
Venus Williams won seven Grand Slams and beat her sister in five of those tournaments, two of them finals. Serena paid tribute to Venus Friday, saying there would be no Serena without Venus.
The Williams sisters grew up in Compton, Calif., away from the tony country club set that tends to populate sports like tennis, Their ascendance to the top of the game has given hope to little girls of color that their path to greatness is in no way limited. We’ll see if Ajla Tomjanovic becomes more than a name to answer trivia questions and settle bar bets. In the meantime, if the next chapter of Serena Williams’ life is anything like the last, hang on world. It’s going to be an interesting ride.
And that’s how I see it for this week. You can reach us via email with your questions and comments at Sports at Large at gmail.com. And follow me on Twitter at Sports at Large.
Until next week, for all of us here, I’m Milton Kent. Thanks for listening and enjoy the games.
