“You’ve Already Won”: One More Rally With Serena Williams
Tim Rohan reports from Serena Williams’ final US Open.
On Wednesday night, ROS senior writer Tim Rohan was in the crowd to watch Serena Williams defeat Anett Kontaveit, the number-two seed, in the US Open. Tim’s taking over the newsletter this week to talk about Serena, chasing greatness, and one final, magical rally. I hope you enjoy.
NEW YORK — Late in the second set, Serena Williams was standing upright, late to get into her stance, as Anett Kontaveit tossed the ball to serve. Williams looked tired. Their match, in the second round of the US Open, had been a grind to that point. Williams had gutted out a tiebreak win in the first set, and Kontaveit, the No. 2 seed here, a player 14 years younger than Williams, had come out firing in the second, landing winner after winner with her powerful forehand.
Williams had gotten sloppy with her footwork, her serve had lost its bite, and the unforced errors had begun to pile up. Kontaveit hit an ace to win the second set, and Williams hardly moved as she watched the ball fly by.
Williams walked off the court and retreated to the locker room, having an inner dialogue with herself all the way. A few weeks ago, she had written an essay in Vogue, indicating this would be her last major tournament as a professional tennis player. She would be turning 41 soon, and wanted to spend more time with her family.
But in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday night, Kontaveit was forcing Williams to confront that reality: she was possibly one set away from retirement. “Oh my goodness,” Williams said she thought to herself. “I got to give my best effort. Because this could be it.”
When Williams returned to the court, she looked rejuvenated. She played some of her best tennis in years. She hit a 119 mph service winner to take the opening game, then cruised to a 6-2 win in the third set. After she ripped a backhand winner to end it, sending her onto the third round, Williams looked to the crowd, pumping a clenched fist.
In her box, her husband Alexis Ohanian pumped back; Anna Wintour clapped and cheered; and, a few seats away, Tiger Woods raised two fists in exaltation.
Woods and Williams are good friends. Earlier this spring, Williams had asked him for advice. She could sense the end was near. She hadn’t won a Grand Slam since 2017, not since she won the Australian Open while pregnant with her daughter, Olympia. Even after giving birth, after a Cesarean section and two pulmonary embolisms, she had returned to playing at a high level. She reached the finals of four more majors, including the US Open in 2018 and 2019, but lost to younger players each time. Then in 2021, during the first round at Wimbledon, she tore her hamstring and had to withdraw. She decided to take a break from tennis after that.
When Williams and Woods spoke, Williams hadn’t played in about seven months. She wanted to know, should she call it a career or keep going? Woods had his own share of injuries and had faced this same decision himself. He’d decided to forge on, make a comeback, and he ended up winning the 2019 Masters, creating another iconic moment in his long career.
Woods told Williams: What if you just gave it two weeks? … See what happens.
Williams took Woods’ advice. “And it felt magical to pick up a racket again,” she wrote in Vogue.
Williams made her comeback at Wimbledon, in late June. At that point, she’d been away from the game for about a year, and she promptly lost to Harmony Tan, the 115th-ranked player in the world. About six weeks later, she published the Vogue essay indicating she’d retire after the US Open.
As the Open started this week, fans flocked here in droves, to see Williams one last time, knowing any match could be her last. On Monday night, more than 29,000 people, a record-number, crammed into Arthur Ashe Stadium to watch Williams play Danka Kovinic, the 80th-ranked player in the world, in the first round. Bill Clinton, Spike Lee, and Queen Latifah were among those in attendance. As Williams took the court, the crowd roared.
“I could feel it in my chest,” Williams later said. “It’s a feeling I’ll never forget.”
With the crowd behind her, Williams rounded into form. She couldn’t move as well as she once did, but she pummeled Kovinic with her serve and summoned enough winners when it counted. The crowd lived and died with every point, urging Williams on to victory. Kovinic later said the crowd was so loud, she couldn’t hear the ball coming off Williams’ racquet, which made it harder for her to determine where it would land. Williams ended up winning easily, 6-3, 6-3.
Afterward, the US Open staged a goodbye ceremony. Tournament organizers played a highlight video with a voiceover from Oprah, Billie Jean King said a few words, and Gayle King interviewed Williams on court. If that had been Williams’ final win at a major, it would have been a fitting sendoff.
Few people expected Williams to beat Anett Kontaveit, the No. 2 seed, Williams’ opponent in the second round. At some point these past few months, though, Williams had realized she enjoyed being the underdog again. She hadn’t been in this position in a long time. Not since she first won the US Open in 1999, when she was 17. “I’ve had an X on my back since 99,” Williams said. She’d always been the favorite, the front-runner. Not anymore.
“Honestly, I’m just looking at it as a bonus,” Williams said of the US Open. “I don’t have anything to prove. I don’t have anything to win. I have absolutely nothing to lose.”
That mindset helped Williams against Kontaveit on Wednesday. In the first set, Williams played fast and loose, hanging shot for shot with the young Estonian, looking at times like her vintage self. When the set went to tiebreak, Williams hit an ace to end it, then stood there, fist clenched, jaw clenched, as the crowd erupted. Woods pumped his fist as if he'd just sunk a putt himself.
After Williams dropped the second set, she took a moment to re-group. At one point during the match, Williams told herself: “Serena, you’ve already won. Just play. Be Serena. You’re better than this.”
That’s all she needed, a reminder. Williams stormed back to take the third set, win 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2, and advance to the third round. Afterward, during Williams’ on-court remarks, the interviewer noted how she had been out for a year, how she’d only played a handful of matches since coming back: “And you just beat the No. 2 player in the world… how did you do it?”
“Well, I’m a pretty good player,” Williams said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “This is what I do best. I love a challenge, love rising to the challenge.”
After she’d been away for so long, it might have been easy to forget.
Now, the question is, how far can Williams go? On Friday, in the third round, she’ll face Ajla Tomljanović, who’s ranked No. 46 in the world, in front of another raucous crowd that will get to see Williams play professional tennis at least one more time.
“There’s still a little left in me,” Williams said. “We’ll see.”
🎾 Just how unbelievable is Serena Williams’ US Open performance? Check out this ridiculous stat.
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