By Sulaimon Jamiu
Serena Williams has lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in a game which is understood to be the last of her brilliant career of 27 years, which boasts of 23 major titles and over 1,000 matches.
The 73-time winner on tour, Serena Williams, leaves behind a career that might never be matched again, in the Women’s Tennis world.
Like the champion she is, Serena Williams slugged away five match points in the final game. In the end, it wasn’t enough.
Williams, arguably the most decorated player in history, ended her tennis career on Friday night at the 2022 US Open. The numbers, the impact, the legacy in the tours can never be forgotten.
Ajla Tomljanovic won a third-round match 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1 in front of a packed, passionate crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the familiar venue where Williams won a record-equaling six US Open titles.
Williams, 40, who won an Open Era record 23 Grand Slam titles, will leave the game with some of the loftiest numbers of all time.
Strictly in terms of Hologic WTA Tour titles, Martina Navratilova leads the all-time list with 167, followed by Chris Evert (157), Stefanie Graf (107), Court (92) and Williams, with 73.
Beyond the bare numbers, though, Williams is credited with transforming the women’s game, in over the last two decades.
“I don’t think I’ve even taken a moment to realize any impact,” she said in New York, responding to tributes from Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka and many others. “I understand it, but I don’t really meditate or think about it. I’ll have plenty of time soon to do all that.
“I never thought I would have that impact, ever. I was just a girl trying to play tennis in a time where I could develop this impact and be a voice. It was just so authentic because I do what I do, and I just do it authentically me.”
In a professional career that spanned 27 years, Williams won 73 WTA-level titles; produced eight different reigns at No.1, from 2002-17; is the most recent player to simultaneously hold all four Grand Slam crowns; finished with an overall match record of 846; won more than $94 million in prize money, more than any woman in tennis history; and won four Olympic gold medals, three in doubles.
“There’s no happiness in this topic for me,” Serena wrote in a first-person essay for Vogue magazine. “The best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
