NEW YORK, United States — After a glittering
27-year professional career in which she became one of the greatest players of
all time,
Serena Williams is preparing to bid farewell to tennis at the major
where it all began.
اضافة اعلان
The 40-year-old sporting icon ended the guessing
game surrounding her future earlier this month by revealing that the
“countdown” to her retirement had started, with her final Grand Slam appearance
expected at the US Open in New York starting on Monday.
“There comes a time in life when we have to decide
to move in a different direction,” Williams wrote. “That time is always hard
when you love something so much.”
The announcement sets the stage for what will be an
emotional farewell for Williams, who faces unheralded world number 80
Danka Kovinic in Monday’s first round at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams won the first of her 23 Grand Slam singles
titles as a 17-year-old at the 1999 US Open, beating Martina Hingis in the
final.
That breakthrough victory confirmed what had become
apparent ever since her professional debut four years earlier: that Williams,
alongside sister Venus, was a rising force in women’s tennis.
While 1999 marked her first singles Slam, by then
Williams had already won mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the
US Open in
1998.
Her win in the 1999 singles final would light the touch
paper for the most dominant career of any female player in the Open era, her 23
Grand Slam titles second only to Margaret Court’s 24.
While a record-equaling 24th Grand Slam singles
title is likely to remain beyond her next week, Williams has nevertheless
produced a collection of records that in all probability will never be broken.
Record collection
With seven
Australian Open singles titles, seven Wimbledon titles and six US Open titles, Williams is the
only player, male or female to win three different Grand Slams six times or
more.
In total, she has won 39 Grand Slam titles — with 14
women’s doubles crowns and two mixed doubles titles to go alongside her 23
singles victories.
Her longevity is also unmatched. She was first
ranked world number one in 2002, and last held the position in 2017 — an
interval of just under 15 years.
Williams also holds the record for the longest gap
between her first and last Grand Slam wins: 17 years and 139 days between her
1999 US Open win and the 2017 Australian Open in Melbourne, when she was
pregnant with daughter Olympia.
Williams has also collected four Olympic gold medals
— three as a doubles partner with sister Venus in 2000, 2008, and 2012, and one
singles gold at the 2012 London Games, staged at Wimbledon.
Only three other players — Steffi Graf, Andre
Agassi, and Rafael Nadal — have completed the career “Golden Slam” of all four
major championships with an Olympic gold.
Williams’ farewell to tennis in New York has become
the hottest ticket in town.
Her retirement announcement triggered a stampede
among fans, with the first three nights of the tournament sold out. Secondary
ticket markets have reported a surge in ticket prices, up 34 percent since
early August.
Whether or not Williams is able to extend her Grand
Slam career much further than Monday’s first round remains to be seen.
Williams herself has called a 24th Grand Slam title
“fan fantasy.”
“I get that,” she said this month. “It’s a good
fantasy. But I’m not looking for some ceremonial, final on-court moment. I’m
terrible at goodbyes, the world’s worst.”
Williams’ recent results indicate the pessimism is
well-founded.
In her first match after her retirement
announcement, Williams lost 6–2, 6–4 to Belinda Bencic in Toronto.
In her next outing, in Cincinnati, she was routed
6–4, 6–0 by reigning US Open champion
Emma Raducanu, the British teenager who
was born three years after Williams’ first Grand Slam victory in 1999.
With Williams not expected to mount a sustained
challenge, all eyes will be on Poland’s world number one Iga Swiatek in the
women’s draw.
The 21-year-old was the form player in women’s
tennis earlier this year, reeling off victories at the Qatar Open, Indian
Wells, and Miami Open before claiming wins on clay in Stuttgart and Rome en
route to her second Slam singles title at the French Open.
However, Swiatek has struggled to recapture that
dominance during the North American hard court season, making early exits at
both the Cincinnati Masters and Canadian Open.
Read more Sports
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
