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.
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.
Her win in the 1999 singles final would light the touchpaper 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-equalling 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.
US Open: Serena Williams gets ready to walk into the sunset after building a highway full of dreams
Swiatek starts favourite
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% 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.
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 hardcourt season, making early exits at both the Cincinnati Masters and Canadian Open.
Williams is in the same quarter of the draw as second seed Anett Kontaveit and could have quite a path to the final were she to make a shock run on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts.
She could face Canada’s 14th-seeded Leylah Fernandez, a 19-year-old who was last year’s US Open runner-up, in the fourth round and Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, this year’s Wimbledon runner-up, in the quarter-finals.
The winner from Kontaveit’s quarter of the draw could meet Greek third seed Maria Sakkari or Romania’s seventh-seeded Simona Halep in the semi-finals.
The other half of the bracket features top seed Swiatek and Spanish fourth seed Paula Badosa.
Swiatek could meet US eighth seed Jessica Pegula in a quarter-final while Badosa could face sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, is also in Badosa’s quarter of the draw.
She would meet defending champion Emma Raducanu, the 11th seed from Britain, in a third-round showdown and Sabalenka in the round of 16.
Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open winner, could meet Badosa in the third round.
Venus Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, could meet Sabalenka in the third round, meaning she could only face younger sister Serena in a US Open final, likely meaning the siblings have faced each other for the final time in a major singles draw.
