Serena Williams

Tennis player Serena Williams tosses the ball with her left hand, preparing to hit it Serena Williams and her signature serve. Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via ...

Love is why she’s giving herself one more chance, despite the physical limits of a 40-year-old body, to win the US Open instead of adhering to the old advice of how [athletes should leave the game](https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/best-athletes-to-retire-at-the-top-of-their-game/) while they’re at the top of the sport. Commentators and insiders called her “ [deluded](https://web.archive.org/web/20080821180813/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article1292868.ece)” and out of shape; some [speculated](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/sports/ncaabasketball/08weight.html) that Serena, who had dominated tennis just a couple of years prior to her injuries, was over her listed 135 pounds and that the women’s top 10 had passed Serena by. And Serena won 15 more grand slam singles titles after 2007, the year she was supposedly done for. [watch the replay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Qea_uBBAU), it’s not entirely clear what she’s more mad at: that Sharapova took a swing at her or that she lost the point. In the first point of the sixth game, Sharapova, reeling from the onslaught of Williams’s serves and backhands, aimed a smash directly at Serena’s body (usually a no-no in tennis since you could hurt someone). Despite being unseeded and facing a tough draw full of talented players, Serena powered through the tournament, stunning her detractors in each round. Serena Williams and her sister Venus were not just beating the best players in the world — they won multiple grand slams before their respective 22nd birthdays — they were also playing a sport in which so many wanted to see them fail or count them out. At the time, tennis insiders and former players, including the great Martina Navratilova, continually dismissed the idea of racism against the sisters and insinuated that the backlash Serena and Venus received was their family’s fault. At the time, Serena was coming off a slew of injuries and entered the tournament unseeded. It’s easy to appreciate the greatness of Serena Williams: 23 grand slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals, 14 grand slam doubles titles, and a “Serena Slam,” a non-calendar-year grand slam (winning the four major championships — Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open — consecutively). As they became more dominant, players and commentators had talked about how not only was their father Richard a bad influence, but also started circulating the unsubstantiated rumor that when the sisters played one another, they would decide in advance who would win. “To me that’s kind of the essence of being Serena: expecting the best from myself and proving people wrong.

Serena Williams described her desire to be “perfect.” “I know perfect doesn't exist,” she wrote in Vogue earlier this month, announcing her plans to leave ...

[something related to her use of a finger roll](https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-serena-williams-rules-the-finger-roll-toss-1441656755). Reflecting on her fastest, 128.6-mph serve at the 2013 Australian Open, Williams remarked that it was “my fastest that went in. Williams has attributed her serve’s consistency to the details. The Grand Slam titles came easily when she won an astronomically high percentage of first serve points, [harder when her first serve was marginally off](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/serena-williams-will-need-to-serve-better-to-tie-margaret-court/). By changing the serve’s spin from slice to topspin, she would hamper her opponents’ ability to make a quality return. This makes it virtually impossible for the returner, who can only guess,” said Joseph Oyebog, a former hitting partner to the Williams sisters early in their career. [Fluid like water](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDynWX27zIk) but [powerful like a jackhammer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FMtTiLak2Q), Williams’s serve has underpinned her 23 Grand Slam victories — more than any player in the Open Era. Williams turned professional in 1995 at age 14, following the lead of her older sister Venus. But more important than possessing raw speed, her serve has been consistent. Williams’s serve speed often exceeded that of her male counterparts. Unfortunately, the WTA did not start keeping match statistics until 2008, which lops off the first 13 years of her incredible career — a period in which she won six majors. “But whatever my perfect was, I never wanted to stop until I got it right.” Williams’s serve — the most elementally sound component of her game — might come as statistically close to perfection as a tennis stroke can get.

Williams is the WTA's all-time career earnings leader and is one of the richest female athletes ever.

She has invested in numerous businesses during her career that will keep her busy in the next phase of her life. The Williams sisters became stakeholders in August 2009. Williams has used her career earnings to successfully invest in multiple businesses. The team, Angel City FC, plays in Los Angeles. "It’s one of 16 unicorns — companies valued at more than $1 billion — that Serena Ventures has funded, along with Tonal, Impossible Foods, Noom, and Esusu, to name a few. "This year we raised $111 million of outside financing, from banks, private individuals and family offices. [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2022/08/09/serena-williams-tennis-retirement-net-worth-earnings/?sh=319a6a964d83). She has the 90th-highest net worth among self-made women worldwide. She also will have plenty of money at her disposal. In addition to Serena Williams' earnings, she has racked up numerous endorsement deals off the court. Below is a breakdown of Williams' net worth, how she has amassed her wealth and what business ventures she will participate in during her retirement. [as more of an "evolution"](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/tennis/news/serena-williams-retiring-us-open-tennis/hmdzzpdtcefe9ojpwwerkjre) into the next stage of her life.

When the world champion, who helped professionalize women's tennis, watches Williams play, she says, she thanks God: “Serena is living our dream.”

She founded the Women’s Sports Foundation and the Women’s Tennis Association and was the first female athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She can relate to a lot of different people, and people can relate to her because of what she’s been through. She founded the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative and is a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Angel City F.C. I think she could make even a bigger difference in the second part of her life than the first. She has accomplished so much, and she has also had some hardships, including the murder of her half sister, the racism that she has endured as a Black woman and the complications she suffered after the birth of her daughter. Every time I see the other women from the Original Nine and we talk about the state of our sport, we say, “Isn’t this great?” They’re living the dream. She loves the attention and knows how to cope with it. It sets the tone for the intensity of her game. And we wanted to be able to make a living playing tennis. When she’s down 30-40 or 15-40, she can throw in a couple of aces, and before you know it, it’s deuce again. The technique, power and rhythm of her serve are unbelievable. Her presence and politics raised the game.

As one of the greatest athletes of all time, Serena has created change on and off the court. She talks to TIME about her decision to retire.

“I just get more love and more joy out of what I do in the VC space.” “I can’t imagine my life without my sisters,” she says. “A lot of people feel they’re not pretty or they’re not cute enough because their skin is dark,” she says. “I was heavily influenced by her experience and the comeback,” says Felix. “Even though the doctor was like, ‘You’ve got to take it easy, 100° heat, yadda, yadda, yadda,’ Serena said, ‘I got this.’ As long as she was confident, I was confident.” Serena told her husband that she didn’t drop a set the entire tournament because she knew it was best to get off the court quickly, for the baby’s sake. “I remember as a kid watching in awe, and I was so happy to be seeing a strong Black woman on my screen,” she tells TIME. She grieved the death of older sister Yetunde Price, who was killed in a 2003 shooting, in a case of mistaken identity. “The tennis world was not accustomed to seeing Black girls show up adorned in styles reflecting their African American cultural heritage, as opposed to wearing styles that blended in,” says Tera Hunter, a professor of African American studies at Princeton University. “And I haven’t seen to this day.” “I think I’m good at it,” she says of parenthood. 1, that she was soon to be done with the life that made her an inspiration to millions, Olympia’s reply was as joyful as her mother’s celebrations after so many Grand Slam wins: a fist-pumping “Yes!” “It’s hard to completely commit,” says Williams, “when your flesh and blood is saying, Aw.”

Sportswear giant Nike has said it will continue to partner with Serena Williams after her retirement and other major sponsors are likely to follow suit.

Her one-time tennis rival, Maria Sharapova, was the only other athlete on the list. “She’ll now have the full time and opportunity to expand her sponsor base,” said Larry Mann, partner at sports marketing and media agency rEvolution. Williams’ career prize money of $94.6 million is dwarfed by her endorsement income — estimated to be about $340 million — and the ball is in her court as she looks ahead to life without the demands of being an elite athlete. “As no other active female player is close to her level of accomplishment, everyone coming up in women’s tennis will continue to be compared with Serena for a long time to come,” said Phil de Picciotto, founder and president of sports agency Octagon. “But if she becomes a voice of some cause, if she stays relevant and in front of her fanbase, then her value goes up,” Neirotti added. BENGALURU – The end of Serena Williams’s glittering tennis career will have little to no impact on the American’s brand value and her earnings from endorsements could even surge post-retirement, industry experts have told Reuters.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion is expected to confirm her retirement at some point during the next US Open fortnight, ending a career that has straddled ...

"Sometimes being a woman, a black woman in the world, you kind of settle for less. The 23-time Grand Slam champion is expected to confirm her retirement at some point during the next US Open fortnight, ending a career that has straddled four decades and yielded a slew of records that may never be beaten. Over time, that's probably the biggest cultural transformation that they have driven within the sport of tennis." "I think I'm a product of what she's done. She dominated for three-plus generations." "She didn't dominate one generation. I think the commentating was a little bit different. She never settled for less." I wouldn't be here without Serena, Venus, her whole family." That was a shock to the established tennis society," Blackman said. "I happen to be an African-American man. I think at first there was some resistance.

Court, an imposing net rusher from Australia who dominated her rivalry with King, finished with 24 Grand Slam singles titles and 64 Grand Slam titles overall.

“During Serena’s great years in her 30s, she had no formidable rival to test her to the hilt; that is not her fault but a factor,” Flink added, of the GOAT debate. Her approach has been shaped perhaps by her faith (she is a Jehovah’s Witness) and perhaps because of the risk that earlier athletes ran with sponsors for straying outside the lines. That had no precedent in women’s tennis, and it is one of the strongest arguments for bestowing GOAT status on Williams. She went 20-2 against her tennis muse Maria Sharapova, a blond Russian who out-earned her in sponsorships for years, which Williams understandably viewed as an injustice in light of her superior resume. Arguably, she also lacked a transcendent rivalry, dominating Venus, 7-2, in major finals and playing her in only one final at any level after 2009. Graf is also the only player, male or female, to complete the so-called Golden Slam, winning all four majors and the Olympic singles title in 1988. Navratilova also had a long period of dominance, losing just 14 singles matches in five years from 1984 to 1988. Performance is part of it but surely not all of it, and it seems fitting that the first athlete to embrace the GOAT acronym was Muhammad Ali, who billed himself understandably as “the Greatest” and managed some of his business interests through a company named G.O.A.T. And although 11 of Court’s major singles titles came in Australia when it had smaller draws and often weaker fields than other majors, 24 is still the number that Williams has been chasing openly and unsuccessfully since taking her own maternity leave in 2017. Graf, the only player to have won all four majors at least four times, finished with 22 Grand Slam singles titles despite playing about a decade less than Williams. Tennis history is long for a modern sport: Wimbledon dates to 1877 and the US Championships to 1881. A successful Black woman in a predominantly white sport, she has beaten the odds, and talented opponents from multiple generations, across four decades.

The U.S. Open officially begins today with some notable tennis stars missing. But one is the talk of the tournament. Serena Williams is making what's ...

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Margaret Court ? C'est vrai, elle a gagné un tournoi du Grand Chelem de plus que Williams. Mais le tennis, à l'époque, était moins compétitif. Surtout chez les ...

C’est une masse salariale moins élevée que celle de l’équipe en 1991, et je n’ai même pas ajusté les dollars pour tenir compte de l’inflation. Loin, loin, très loin de la tête de leur division. Serena Williams est une athlète olympique accomplie. Celle qui m’a cloué au lit pendant trois jours avec une migraine intraitable. Mais elle a surtout perdu tous leurs affrontements (19) entre 2005 et 2019. Oui, la Russe a déjà vaincu l’Américaine. Le tournoi de prédilection de Serena Williams, c’est Wimbledon. Les Nordiques venaient tout juste de partir pour le Colorado. C’était pendant la semaine du référendum de 1995… J’ai conservé seulement les plus incroyables, insolites et inutiles. Et Williams, elle, à quel point a-t-elle dominé son sport ? Sauf que ses succès furent concentrés sur une période beaucoup plus courte que ceux de Williams.

Serena Williams is set to face Danka Kovinic in the first round at the US Open. We break down what you need to know.

The winner of this match advances to face the winner of the match between No. Her best Grand Slam performance is a pair of third round appearances this year in the Australian Open and French Open. The 2022 US Open gets underway on Monday, and we get to see the GOAT in primetime.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion could be playing her final singles match on Monday at 7 p.m. at Arthur Ashe Stadium. She also plans to play doubles with her ...

After that match, Arthur Ashe will host the first round men’s singles match between Australians [Nick Kyrgios](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/magazine/tennis-us-open-electric-infuriating-nick-kyrgios.html) and Thanasi Kokkinakis. Then after winning a first-round match in the [National Bank Open](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/sports/tennis/serena-williams-canadian-open.html) in Toronto in early August, Williams appeared on the cover of [Vogue magazine](https://www.vogue.com/article/serena-williams-retirement-in-her-own-words), and in an article she shared that she planned to step away from tennis sometime after the U.S. Consider buying a night session ticket for Louis Armstrong Stadium and watching the Williams match on a big screen set up in front of Arthur Ashe. [In the second round](https://twitter.com/usopen/status/1562832865754517505), she would face the winner of [Anett Kontaveit](https://www.wtatennis.com/players/318425/anett-kontaveit) and [Jaqueline Cristian](https://www.wtatennis.com/players/320319/jaqueline-cristian). Eastern — the final day of the tournament, just before the men’s singles final. [set to play Danka Kovinic](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/sports/tennis/us-open-draw-serena-williams.html) in the first round of the tournament on Monday, with her match scheduled for 7 p.m. [ose in the first round](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/28/sports/tennis/serena-williams-wimbledon.html). Resale tickets in the midlevel of Arthur Ashe were selling for about $1,000 and up as of Sunday. 80 in the world. Tickets in the lowest level of the stadium were selling for more than $7,500 each. As of Sunday afternoon, the cheapest seats available on resale for Monday night in Arthur Ashe were well over $200 each and in the nosebleeds. Afterward, a large crowd of fans watched as she exited the tennis center complex in a black sport utility vehicle.

There are 63 other matches on opening day, but they have been relegated to the background as Williams prepares to play what could be her final singles ...

Open final](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/sports/serena-osaka-us-open-penalty.html) in a match where Williams was penalized a game after a series of code violations by chair umpire Carlos Ramos. “I think it’s great that we have somebody like that in our sport who cleared the path and showed us that you can do anything,” she said. “I was really scared: Dang, when is the last time she’s going to play? “Basically she was everywhere, because she always won and was somewhere in the semifinals or the finals. Open men’s champion](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/13/sports/tennis/us-open-mens-final-zverev-thiem.html), will return to the tournament after missing last year’s Open with a serious wrist injury. Stories like this are possible because of our deep commitment to original reporting, produced by a global staff of over 1,700 journalists who have all dedicated themselves to helping you understand the world. “I watch her my whole life,” Swiatek, the 21-year-old Polish star, said of the 40-year-old Williams. But they are all relegated to the background for now as Williams, one of the greatest athletes of any generation, prepares to play what could be her final singles match on Monday night in the first round against the unseeded Danka Kovinic. 10 seed and top-ranked American who is himself the son of former top 10 women’s player Kathy May. Until this year, no Chinese man had qualified to play in the U.S. Open, Swiatek had another priority: finally working up the courage to meet Serena Williams, a formidable champion whom Swiatek said made her feel like “a kid from kindergarten just looking at her.” 1 for the first time this year at the U.S.

Serena Williams's Career at the U.S. Open? Well, It's Complicated. It seems fitting the 23-time Grand Slam winner is prepping her tennis swan song at the place ...

Serena won six matches and, two sets away from her long-avowed goal of tying Margaret Court’s record of 24 majors, again matched up in the final against a young opponent who had never been in the situation. Such was the case in the final, when she betrayed defiance to match her ball-striking and beat Victoria Azarenka, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5. In the final, she faced Naomi Osaka, one of, by now, a vast cohort of players who cited Serena as their inspiration for playing tennis. Venus Williams was, in the eyes of many, the favorite to win the U.S. In retrospect, this is a match Serena likely wishes she had back. Ahead 3–1 in Grand Slam titles, Venus defeated Serena in straight sets, less a competitive match than a prime-time acknowledgment that this tableau—two sisters raised in the same Compton home, batting back titles as if in a playful tennis rally—marked the most remarkable story in sports. Serena lost in three sets but served notice (at 110 mph) that she was already a formidable player. There have been moments in which she was in the wrong. And who did she meet in the third round? Open finals, a run punctuated by fearless tennis but perhaps best recalled for an ugly chest-bump incident with Romanian Irina Spirlea, a bit of foreshadowing that the Williams sisters' party-crashing would be met in some quarters with some ugly resistance. And for individual athletes, who travel a circuit and have no home field or court, there is also the issue of where to say when. Barring the unlikely—a caveat one must always include with Serena—she will

The US Open will have extra oomph this year as it appears to be marking the end of Serena Williams' legendary tennis career, or at least her Grand Slam ...

The US Open will be held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, Aug. This will be Swiatek's fourth US Open appearance; she was eliminated in the fourth round in 2021. The US Open will have extra oomph this year as it appears to be marking the end of Serena Williams' legendary tennis career, or at least her Grand Slam career.

Proclaiming the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion the greatest women's tennis player of all time is a worthwhile debate, but not a straightforward one.

“During Serena’s great years in her 30s, she had no formidable rival to test her to the hilt; that is not her fault but a factor,” Flink added, of the GOAT debate. Her approach has been shaped perhaps by her faith (she is a Jehovah’s Witness) and perhaps because of the risk athletes from earlier generations ran with sponsors for straying outside the lines (“Republicans buy sneakers, too,” Michael Jordan once said). That had no precedent in women’s tennis, and it is one of the strongest arguments for bestowing GOAT status on Williams. She went 20-2 against her tennis muse Maria Sharapova, a blond Russian who out-earned her in sponsorships for years, which Williams understandably viewed as an injustice in light of her superior résumé. Graf is also the only player, male or female, to complete the so-called Golden Slam, winning all four majors and the Olympic singles title in 1988. She and her older sister Venus changed the game and raised the bar for the opposition, many of whom could not keep up, fading or retiring while the Williamses continued. Graf, the only player to have won all four majors at least four times, finished with 22 Grand Slam singles titles despite playing about a decade less than Williams. And though 11 of Court’s major singles titles came in Australia when it had smaller draws and often weaker fields than other majors, 24 is still the number that Williams has been chasing openly and unsuccessfully since taking her own maternity leave in 2017. Performance is part of it but surely not all of it, and it seems fitting that the first athlete to embrace the GOAT acronym was Muhammad Ali, who billed himself understandably as “the Greatest” and managed some of his business interests through a company named G.O.A.T. The game and equipment have improved drastically (Navratilova and her friendly rival Chris Evert once played with wooden rackets), and the measures of success have shifted, too. Court, an imposing net rusher from Australia who dominated her rivalry with King, finished with 24 Grand Slam singles titles and 64 Grand Slam titles overall. A successful Black woman in a predominantly white sport, she has beaten the odds, and talented opponents from multiple generations, across four decades.

Here's everything you need to know about Serena Williams' match with Danka Kovinic at the U.S. Open, including broadcast information and start time.

ESPN Deportes ESPN, ESPN Deportes ESPN2, ESPN Deportes ESPN will provide coverage of the Williams vs. Canada TV Channel TV Channel The match will also be live streamed on ESPN+, ESPN3 and fuboTV, ESPN ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes And Williams' faceoff with Montenegro's Danka Kovinic in the first round is another chance for Williams to get back to doing what she does best: winning matches. The iconic blue-and-green asphalt in New York's Flushing Meadows. Her last venue?

Fans could see the 40-year-old play her final singles match Monday evening against unseeded Danka Kovinic.

That includes forays into business with investment firm Serena Ventures and entertainment via past acting roles and executive produced “King Richard,” the film about her father that was nominated for five Academy Awards. She’s also particpating in the doubles tournament with sister Venus Williams. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the second round.

Women's tennis expert Jose Onorato has revealed his U.S. Open 2022 picks for what could be Serena Williams' final match.

Kovinic has lost four straight matches since the 2022 French Open in May, when she won her first two outings before losing to eventual champion Iga Swiatek in the third round. Open for the third consecutive year and fifth time in her career but failed to advance past the second round in her first four attempts. Open 2022 odds and released his coveted best bet for the Williams vs. Williams won her first U.S. A six-time winner at Flushing Meadows, Williams begins her quest for one final crown when she faces Danka Kovinic on Monday in the first round of the 2022 U.S. Williams claimed her most recent U.S. Now, Onorato has scrutinized the latest U.S. Serena Williams' glorious career appears to be coming to an end as the 40-year-old superstar is expected to retire at the conclusion of the 2022 U.S. Kovinic odds from Caesars Sportsbook, while Kovinic is a +290 underdog. Onorato grew up playing competitive tennis in Caracas, Venezuela. The over/under for total games is set at 20.5, with Williams favored by 4.5 games. Williams has won 23 Grand Slam titles, the most during the Open Era, and is one major championship behind Margaret Court on the all-time list.

Williams said earlier this month that she plans to "evolve away from tennis" after the U.S. Open. Each match could be her last.

[The new Jackson Hole consensus: A more volatile world is here to stay](/2022/08/29/jackson-hole-global-economy-volatile) The bottom line: Win or lose tonight — or at any other point during this tournament — Williams' legacy is already set in stone. Open, where she's reached at least the semis in each of her last 11 appearances. And after winning singles gold at the 2012 Olympics, she became the only player with a [lawsuit filed by Trump](https://www.axios.com/2022/08/22/donald-trump-fbi-search-lawsuit) last week seeking the appointment of a special master to review the materials seized and prevent the FBI from examining the seized documents until the special master is in place. [Mar-a-Lago](https://www.axios.com/2022/08/08/donald-trump-home-raided-fbi) home may be protected by attorney-client privilege, the Department of Justice said in a [court filing](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763.31.0_5.pdf) Monday. 1 rankings (man or woman). It could be the last time we ever get to see the GOAT in action. But despite reaching four finals since then, she remains stuck on 23. [rather unlikely](https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/serena-williams-retirement-us-open-expectations-legacy.html)for the 413th-ranked Williams. Make sure you're by a TV Monday night for Serena Williams' first-round match at the U.S. [earlier this month](https://www.axios.com/2022/08/10/serena-williams-retirement-us-open) that she plans to "evolve away from tennis" after the U.S.

Serena and Venus Williams are pairing up for what could be the final time as doubles partners at the US Open. Here's when they'll be playing.

As a doubles pairing, Serena and Venus Williams have won the US Open twice. Serena Williams has won the US Open as a singles player six times, most recently in 2014. The channels for the match will not be announced until a time and date are given. The time and day for the Williams' sisters match has yet to be announced. Though Serena Williams has not said outright that the US Open will be the final tournament, Serena Williams ranks tied for 413th and Venus is unranked.

What will the greatest player in women's tennis do next? By Jemele Hill. A photo of Serena Williams swinging a tennis racket. Cameron ...

She has been called [a man](https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/29672340), and of course subjected to [racial slurs](https://www.thequint.com/sports/tennis/serena-williams-activist-voice-against-racism). Her armor against these sickening attacks was to become the best player the sport has ever seen. [Williams opened up](https://www.vogue.com/article/serena-williams-vogue-cover-interview-february-2018) about the life-threatening complications she experienced after doctors performed an emergency Cesarean section when she gave birth to her daughter. When she [beat Nuria Parrizas-Diaz at the Canadian Open earlier this month](https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/34369882/serena-williams-survives-opening-round-challenge-first-singles-win-year), it was her first singles-match victory in 14 months. Williams has been a cultural icon for so long, it’s hard to imagine that she would be anything less once she’s finally done with tennis. Characterizing all of this as evolution presumably takes the sting out of her leaving a sport to which she has devoted her life. Black women are [three times more likely than white women](https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/features/maternal-mortality/index.html) to die of pregnancy-related complications, so Williams’s public sharing of her ordeal became a powerful tool in the ongoing conversation about racial disparities in health care. Open match with Danka Kovinic tonight is indeed her last match ever at the Open (or if this is her last tournament appearance, period) Williams can retire knowing that words cannot fully describe what she’s meant for the sport, for women—especially Black women—and for American culture. Who else could win a major title while two months pregnant, as she did at the Australian Open in 2017? She wants to expand her family and dive even deeper into her numerous business enterprises, which include a venture-capital firm, Serena Ventures, that She and her sister Venus represent one of the most improbable success stories in American history. Even calling her one of the most dominant athletes in history feels confining.

At some point in the coming weeks at the US Open, Serena Williams will take the tennis court for the final time in her prestigious, all-time great career.

Australian Open "I can’t even have this conversation with my mom and dad. I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out. "I don't want it to be over, but at the same time I'm ready for what's next," Williams wrote. I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine.

There's a chance that by this time tomorrow, Serena Williams's singles career will be over. Serena will face Danka Kovinić tonight in her first-round match at ...

Watt left the team’s [preseason finale with a knee injury](https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/08/28/steelers-tj-watt-out-vs-lions-knee-injury-preseason). [first step toward unionizing the minor leagues](https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/08/29/mlb-players-association-seeks-minor-league-union). [was the latest example of how Scott Frost is in over his head](https://www.si.com/college/2022/08/27/nebraska-scott-frost-northwestern-cant-coach). … Hawai‘i won the Little League World Series [with a blowout over Curaçao](https://www.si.com/more-sports/2022/08/28/little-league-world-series-hawaii-beats-curacao). Commanders rookie Brian Robinson was [shot multiple times in an apparent attempted robbery](https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/08/28/washington-commanders-brian-robinson-shot-robbery-attempt). … Michigan made a somewhat unusual [decision about its starting quarterback job](https://www.si.com/college/2022/08/27/harbaugh-announcement-about-michigan-starting-quarterback). [Who Has Best Path to Title?](https://www.si.com/tennis/2022/08/26/us-open-2022-seed-reports) [American Men Who Could Make a Run at the U.S. And while Francoeur carved out a successful 12-year career in the majors, he never hit as well as he did during that first month in the bigs. … The AL Rookie of the Year race is down to two guys excelling [for teams that until recently had long been basement dwellers, Nick Selbe writes](https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/08/26/j-rod-rutschman-rookie-of-the-year-race). In 27 games in September and October, Francoeur batted .235/.273/.422. Women Who Will Set the Tone in New York](https://www.si.com/womens-tennis/2022/08/27/american-women-to-watch-2022-u-s-open-serena-williams-tennis) (She’s also competing in the women’s doubles tournament with her sister Venus.)

They came to the U.S. Open on Monday from far and wide for Serena — no last name required, befitting someone as much an icon as superstar athlete — eager to ...

And why the daily program did not make mention of any other of the dozens of athletes in action, showing instead a montage of six images of Williams holding her six U.S. Tennis Association said more than 90,000 free online passes were downloaded for that run-up to the main-draw action, an increase of more than 35% from the last pre-pandemic tournament in 2019. Look, this is a historic moment for the Williams family, for Serena and our sport," said Stacey Allaster, the tournament director of the American Grand Slam event. "So we'll see her Wednesday when she plays again." That included more than 4,600 for Monday night alone, making it a sellout. "It is so difficult to really capture what Serena and Venus have done for the sport of tennis. Mom said she's been traveling from Boston to New York for the U.S. "And now, she's ..." As thousands waited in lines to enter the tournament grounds hours before her match, then headed to smaller courts for earlier action or simply around, waiting and wading in the palpable excitement, no one present could know for sure how many more opportunities there will be for any of it. They came to the U.S. She's done so much," said Quintella Thorn, a 68-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, making her eighth trip to the U.S. Which is why Monday mattered more than the usual Day 1 at a major tournament.

The transcendent and transformative star of women's tennis faces Danka Kovinic Monday night in her opening match of the U.S. Open.

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Serena and Venus Williams are pairing up for what could be the final time as doubles partners at the US Open. Here's when they'll be playing.

As a doubles pairing, Serena and Venus Williams have won the US Open twice. Serena Williams has won the US Open as a singles player six times, most recently in 2014. The channels for the match will not be announced until a time and date are given. The time and day for the Williams' sisters match has yet to be announced. Though Serena Williams has not said outright that the US Open will be the final tournament, Serena Williams ranks tied for 413th and Venus is unranked.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion is going out in style. Serena will don head-to-toe diamonds at the US Open.

On her feet, Serena will lace up a diamond-encrusted special edition of the NikeCourt Flare 2, the brand's latest statement tennis sneaker. Nike is also providing Williams with a matching jacket and tote bag for her arrival, each featuring affixed crystals meant to shine bright through the evening tennis match. Designed months ago through insights from Williams, the tennis icon will take the court in a figure skating-inspired dress.

In addition to her 23 grand slam singles titles, she has also won 14 women's doubles and two mixed doubles slams. Williams has won singles tournaments at ...

In doubles, Williams and her sister have comprised one of the best pairings in tennis history. In seven different years, she has claimed at least two different grand slam victories, more than the six claimed by Navratilova. Graff spent 377 weeks as the No. During her career, Williams has been the No. Win All told, that's a record of 1,075-192. She also became the first woman to win the career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles when she earned that medal. She has also only lost 25 times in the finals of women's tennis tournaments. In addition to her success at grand slam events, she also holds four Olympic gold medals. She first pulled off the feat when she won the 2003 Australian Open after winning the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in 2002. In the open era, Williams stands alone. In the history of tennis, only one player has won more grand slam singles titles than Williams' 23.

Serena Williams begins what is probably her final U.S. Open with a first-round match against Danka Kovinic. Follow along for the latest updates.

… I’m just beginning." I would have to wait until it gets light. Sometimes I wake up at like 6:00 in the morning to go practice and it was too dark. “I once heard Althea Gibson, one of her best friends told me she wanted to see another African American win a Slam before her time is up. Sept. Open 10 times and won the title six times, in 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012-14.

The Sporting News is tracking live updates and highlights from the first-round match between Serena Williams and Danka Kovinic at the 2022 US Open.

After a few wobbles in the opening frame, Williams got it together, overcoming a 40-15 deficit to take the 1-0 lead. She strut to the right to meet Kovinic's shot then dropped an impressive shot to freeze her opponent. 7:50 p.m.: Kovinic takes the third game of the set. Then, Williams placed a perfect return that danced on the edge of the baseline. 8:11 p.m.: Williams got a 40-15 edge in the sixth game of the set and began to look revitalized. 8:27 p.m.: Set point for Williams and she flashes that fiery serve! But Kovinic showed a little more composure late and now leads Set No. But one thing is for certain: everyone will be watching. Only time will tell. And although the athleticism might have waned, Williams' desire for "the moment" hasn't. Perhaps a final major trophy is one dream that is too far out of reach. Williams hasn't won a major tournament since 2017 when she captured the Australian Open.