There are very different ways to say goodbye in the world of tennis. 16 years ago in Flushing Park, New York, Andre Agassi finished his last professional tennis match, and this season, Agassi said goodbye all the way, he told the world that he was going to hang up the racket, and everyone knew. Today's Serena Williams seems to have reached the end of her career, but she is reluctant to show her attitude. Just a month ago, the greatest female tennis player said she didn't like the word retirement, replacing it with "transformation", "I'm moving from tennis to other things that are important to me" – the closest thing she said to her retirement declaration.
If you have to choose an end point, then Flushing may be the most suitable one. This is her home and the place where she first lifted a Grand Slam singles title, a distant last century (1999), when no one believed that this African-American girl could dominate women's tennis for so long: 27 years of career, 23 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, 4 Olympic gold medals... Serena brought a special jersey for this trip to the US Open, which is a black dress inspired by figure skating, the group is six layers, paying tribute to her six US Open titles, the whole set of jerseys and shoes are inlaid with 400 diamonds, blingbling everything, just to set off her special.
These, light or dark, all point to the conclusion that "this is the end". The imaginary farewell battle ended on the morning of September 3, Beijing time. At the Arthur Ashe Stadium, which he is most familiar with, against Australian star Tom Janovic, the 40-year-old Serena Williams still struggled to save 5 match points after falling behind by a score of 1-5 in the decider, and experienced 8 equal points, and finally lost to an Australian girl who was 11 years younger than himself.
"I thought I was going to be beaten by her because she was the greatest player of all time (GOAT, Greatestofalltime)." TomJanovic, who won, was a little embarrassed. No matter how great the movement, there will always be an end. Everyone did not hesitate to use the title of "GOAT" to praise Serena Williams, which was uncontroversial, but what was missing. "The greatest" is just one side of Serena, and the other side, as she defines it herself, "I'm one of the strongest athletes."
In the "final battle", she is not a better player on the field, but she is still the strongest player. "I'm not going to give up, and I definitely won't be tonight." As Serena williams said after the game.
Being reborn again and again is a feat and a tribulation
"Serena put her willpower above tennis and played beyond the game, arguably no male or female player can do that." The New Yorker commented. Everyone knows that as a female player who is about to celebrate her 41st birthday, Serena's physical function is much worse than before, her physical fitness is not good, her movement is slow, and these weaknesses are visible to the naked eye.
In the 15 months before the US Open, Serena Williams had only won one match at the WTA Toronto station a month ago, and the world ranking was only 605th. When people think that Serena is just here to tell the truth, then everyone is wrong again. Swept Montenegrin covinić in two straight sets in the first round, and defeated No. 2 seed Kontawit in the second round in a three-set battle; In the second set of the battle against TomJanovic, grabbing 20 beats at 5-4 and trying to pull back a set, people couldn't help but get up and cheer for her, as if the old Serena was back.
The serena williams, known for her strength and bravery, came out of the US Open in 1999, and for nearly 20 years, she has always been a favorite to win titles as long as she can play in a healthy Grand Slam. Serena Williams has witnessed the rise and fall of generations of players with his extraordinarily long career, and has also used his body to record the merits and tribulations - he underwent knee surgery in 2003 and reached the Grand Slam again within a year of returning to the field; At the 2007 Australian Open, Serena Williams, who had been absent for a long time due to ankle and knee injuries, made a strong comeback, defeating six seeded players in the 81st world ranking and winning the championship in one fell swoop; In 2011, he almost died of pulmonary embolism and returned to the field half a year later; At the 2017 Australian Open, she was two months pregnant and beat her sister Venus to win her 23rd Grand Slam singles title...
It was this year that Serena Williams became a mother. After the caesarean section, she experienced a second pulmonary embolism, which Serena once described as a life-and-death disaster, "suddenly unable to breathe when I got up", "began to cough violently", "the sutures of the wound were broken"... At Serena's request, the doctor once again pushed her into the operating room, one operation after another, and then underwent a third operation due to a blood clot in her leg. After six months of postpartum depression, Serena returned to the field again. After his comeback at the French Open the following year, he reached four Grand Slam finals.
In the first round of Wimbledon last year, Serena slipped on wet grass and had to retire from the tournament with an injury. Due to the lack of application for ranking protection, the former world number one ranking fell all the way to 1208th. Just when people thought she was going to retire, Serena once again broke the guess and came to Wimbledon Centre Court again after 364 days. After 3 hours and 14 minutes of battle in the first round, they lost to France's Harmony Tan by a narrow score difference of 5-7, 6-1, 6-7. Reluctantly, Serena then began the trip to Flushing Park.
From the first game of the US Open in 1998 to the third round, to 2022 also stopped in the third round, Serena has gone through 24 years of reincarnation. The top thirty-two results weren't dazzling, but it was enough for Serena now, "It was the most incredible journey I've ever had in my life." ”
No longer define yourself by success and champions
"Over the years, I've defined myself in only one way, to succeed, to win championships, to make history. Then all of a sudden, everything changed. In 2018, Serena said this during the recording of the documentary "Becoming Serena". At that time, her daughter Olympia had just turned 1 year old.
In August, Serena took 5-year-old Olympia with her on the cover of Vogue magazine and wrote in that magazine column that she was "away from tennis." She confessed in the article that without her daughter, "I should be able to win more than 30 Grand Slam titles." "Even though I was playing while breastfeeding and I was playing when I was depressed after childbirth, I still couldn't achieve that goal — the goal I should have, could have achieved, and would have achieved." That goal is the record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles set by Margaret Court in the non-Open era.
For a long time, what supported Serena's perseverance was to equalize or even break this great record. "Some people say I'm not GOAT because I didn't break Court's record. If I don't want to break that record, I'm lying. But, for every day of life, I really don't think about it anymore. Serena Williams, who has approached the 24 crowns many times, seems to have been relieved, "23 Grand Slam championships are good enough, which is also an extraordinary achievement." Now, if I had to choose between tennis and family, I would choose the latter. ”
"Thank you, Dad. I know you're watching. Thank you Mom. It all started with my parents, and they deserved it. The little black girl who only wanted to play tennis was now about to say goodbye to the court, and Serena thanked her family with tears. Raised by his father Richard, who has no tennis background, his sister Venus and his younger sister Serena have become women's tennis superstars. Together, they won 14 Grand Slam women's doubles titles and reached the highest Olympic podium three times. This time, the 42-year-old Venus and his sister played in the US Open doubles together, regrettably stopping the first round, which may also be a farewell battle between the two of them.
Did you really say goodbye? Serena was still reluctant to give a definitive answer. Asked last week if she would play in the next Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, she was noncommittal: "I don't know, I didn't think about it. However, I've always loved Australia. In the sideline interview of this game, when asked if he considered returning again, Serena also gave a vague answer: "I don't think so, but who knows if it will be?" ”
Two days have passed since the match, and Serena's social media accounts have not been updated, the latest top is the farewell magazine cover made by Time Magazine with her avatar, and then there is her new children's picture book, the jewelry she designed, and the investment she made — these are the lives she has longed for and planned after leaving tennis.
Author: Wu Shu
Edit: Gu Miao