Serena Williams withdraws from US Open due to torn hamstring
The 39-year-old, who has been on the hunt for an elusive 24th major, skipped the Olympics in Tokyo and also opted out of the Cincinnati Masters, a tune-up event to the US Open.
Serena Williams waved farewell to the US Open - and her illustrious career - amid emotional scenes after she lost to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic on a thrilling night in New York. Williams, who turns 41 this month, expects it to be her final match.
Leave it to Serena Williams to not want to go quietly, to not want this match, this trip to the U.S. Open, this transcendent career of hers, to really, truly end.
Serena Williams, who is set to bid farewell to professional tennis, recently slayed it with her style statement, as she won her first-round match in the US Open in New York.
Serena Williams, who is set to bid farewell to professional tennis, recently slayed it with her style statement, as she won her first-round match in the US Open in New York.
AUG 10: Writing for Vogue, the American 23-time Grand Slam singles champion said she is moving towards "other things that are important to me", adding she does not like the word "retirement".
In an accompanying Instagram post, she wrote that "the countdown has begun".
"I'm gonna relish these next few weeks," the 40-year-old said.
Williams made her singles return at Wimbledon in June after a lengthy injury lay-off that had led to speculation about her retirement.
She says she will play at the US Open, where she has won six of her major singles titles, later in August.
Williams has won more major singles title than any female player in the Open era and the second most of all time, behind Margaret Court's 24.
"Unfortunately I wasn't ready to win Wimbledon this year. And I don't know if I will be ready to win New York. But I'm going to try," she wrote.
"I know there's a fan fantasy that I might have tied Margaret that day in London, then maybe beat her record in New York, and then at the trophy ceremony say, "See ya!"
"I get that. 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. But please know that I am more grateful for you than I can ever express in words."
On Monday, she had her first singles win in 14 months, beating Spain's Nuria Parrizas Diaz to reach the second round of the National Bank Open in Toronto.
'It is the hardest thing I could ever imagine'
In the lengthy essay, Williams says she has been "reluctant to admit to myself or anyone else that I have to move on from playing tennis".
"Alexis, my husband, and I have hardly talked about it; it's like a taboo topic," she wrote.
"I can't even have this conversation with my mom and dad. It's like it's not real until you say it out loud. It comes up, I get an uncomfortable lump in my throat, and I start to cry.
"I know that a lot of people are excited about and look forward to retiring, and I really wish I felt that way. "
In singles, Williams has won the Wimbledon and Australian Open seven times, along with six US Open trophies and three French Open titles.
Her first major title was the 1999 US Open, when she was 17.
She won her last Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open when she was eight weeks' pregnant with daughter Olympia.
She says there is "no happiness" in the possibility of no longer playing tennis.
"I know it's not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain. It's the hardest thing that I could ever imagine," she wrote.
"I hate it. I hate that I have to be at this crossroads. I keep saying to myself, I wish it could be easy for me, but it's not.
"I'm torn: I don't want it to be over, but at the same time I'm ready for what's next."
Williams nearly died in childbirth with Olympia but returned to the sport, reaching four major finals after coming back from maternity leave. She lost them all, leaving her, tantalisingly, one short of Court's record.
She discusses having more children in her essay, stating: "I definitely don't want to be pregnant again as an athlete.
"I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out."
'I did it - and so can you'
Williams is one of sport's most iconic stars, attracting full stadiums and devoted fans throughout her career.
She and older sister Venus have been widely regarded as changing the face of tennis and inspiring future players, as well as pushing for gender equality.
Williams describes the "essence of being Serena" as "expecting the best from myself and proving people wrong".
"There were so many matches I won because something made me angry or someone counted me out. That drove me," she said.
"My sister Venus once said that when someone out there says you can't do something, it is because they can't do it. But I did do it. And so can you."
Williams also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles alongside Venus, two mixed doubles Slam titles and four Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles.
As well as her many highs she had several near-misses when it came to adding to her major tally, including emotional exits at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2021.
She also had some controversial moments at the US Open, including the 2018 final in New York where she accused umpire Carlos Ramos of being a thief.
Ranked by Forbes as the highest-earning female athlete of all time, Williams has moved into business in recent years, starting a venture capital firm.
She is also part of a group that funded a new Los Angeles-based women's team in the National Women's Soccer League season.
"I don't particularly like to think about my legacy. I get asked about it a lot, and I never know exactly what to say," Williams added.
"But I'd like to think that thanks to opportunities afforded to me, women athletes feel that they can be themselves on the court.
"They can play with aggression and pump their fists. They can be strong yet beautiful. They can wear what they want and say what they want and kick butt and be proud of it all.
"I don't know how I'm going to be able to look at this magazine when it comes out, knowing that this is it, the end of a story that started in Compton, California, with a little Black girl who just wanted to play tennis."
JUNE 29: The American great, 40, returned to the same Centre Court where she had limped out injured last year with a passionate display in a 7-5 1-6 7-6 (10-7) defeat.
Willed on by a fervent crowd, Williams answered questions over her fitness with a dynamic display that put her two points from a win before Tan edged it.
The burning question now is surely 'was this her last Wimbledon'?
"That's a question I can't answer," she told a news conference. "I don't know.
"Who knows? Who knows where I'll pop up."
Williams fails to turn tears into triumph
It is almost a year to the day since Williams limped tearfully off Centre Court after slipping and hurting her right ankle in her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
The crowd that day might have wondered if they would ever see the American great back at the grass-court Grand Slam, with age and injury against her.
Even she herself admitted while at Eastbourne this month - where she made her comeback in the doubles alongside Ons Jabeur - that she had harboured her own doubts.
But Williams walked on to the same court, where she has won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles, to a rousing reception.
Now ranked 1,204th in the world, she had needed to request a wildcard to enter the draw.
And she soon showed why she was never going to be turned down.
Shaking off a slightly rusty start in which she was broken by the Wimbledon debutant in the first game, Williams found her feet - and her voice - as she roared when a smash sealed a break back.
The pair traded further breaks, with Williams hitting balls on the run, moving much better than a year out of the sport might have suggested, and delivering some of the trademark powerful shots that have made her one of her sport's all-time greats.
But a break for Tan in the 11th game left the Frenchwoman serving for the set, which she sealed with a forehand winner.
Such was the excitement at times during some lengthy and high quality points that the umpire even had to remind the packed Centre Court: "I know it's very exciting but as a courtesy to both players please be quiet during the rallies."
And that was before the roof went on before the start of the second set to raise the decibel level further.
Williams held quickly to love and then broke in a near 20-minute second game, which featured 12 deuces, on her way to a 5-0 lead. Tan, 24, earned a morale-boosting hold before Williams served out to take it to a deciding set.
The American, whose only matches in the past year were last week's two doubles, broke early in the third but tenacious Tan soon pegged her back.
Williams had celebrated as if she had won the match when she broke for 5-4 in the decider but it proved premature when, having led 30-15 while serving for the match, she was broken again.
Williams forged a 4-0 lead in the final-set tie-break but it slipped away as Tan delivered some stunning winners and the American netted a forehand on match point.
"For my first Wimbledon it's wow - just wow," said world number 115 Tan.
"It's a dream because, you know, I saw Serena on the TV when I was young. She's a legend. When you play her, I was scared. I mean, I was scared when I was on the court, but really happy to be there."
What next for Williams?
There had always been sense that Williams had unfinished business at Wimbledon after the way her tournament ended after six games last year and one of the big motivating factors behind her return was not wanting that to be her final SW19 memory.
She has always remained motivated by the desire to equal Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, and her best chance of doing that is likely to be on a fast grass surface.
She can take some encouragement from the fact she stayed at a high level during a draining encounter that finished after 22:30 BST and lasted three hours 11 minutes.
But whether that is enough to keep her in the sport when she has huge business interests and family life to enjoy remains to be seen.
Asked whether she would be OK with this match being her last Wimbledon memory, she was categorical: "Obviously not. You know me. Definitely not.
"But today I gave all I could do, you know, today. Maybe tomorrow I could have given more. Maybe a week ago I could have given more. But today was what I could do.
"At some point you have to be able to be OK with that."
But she said coming so close to victory made her want to hit the practice courts and she did not rule out an appearance at the US Open in August-September.
"I mean, when you're at home, especially in New York, and the US Open, that being the first place I've won a Grand Slam [in 1999], is something that's always super special.
"There's definitely lots of motivation to get better and to play at home."
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