A cycle, almost an era, of women’s tennis is about to end. It had started twenty-seven years ago, when Serena Williams first stepped on the tennis court as a professional player, she was 14 years old. The American with 23 Grand Slam titles announced on the cover of the magazine Vogue and on Instagram that “the countdown is on” for his retirement: “There is a time in life when you have to decide to take a new route. It’s always a difficult moment when you love what you do so much. And God I love tennis. She says she wants “to focus on her role as a mother, her goals on a spiritual level to discover a new but equally exciting Serena”.
In contemporary tennis, only three stars are designated by their first names: Roger (Federer), Rafa (Nadal) and Serena (Williams). We could also say, without offending her sister Venus, “the Williams” as we said the Callas. If she does not specify what will be her last tournament, the curtain will most likely fall on her immense career on a US Open court (August 29-September 11). No doubt on a final defeat because it is hard to imagine winning a 24th Grand Slam title in New York, which would make her the joint record holder with Margaret Court. The latter having won more than half of her titles before the start of the Open era when competitive tennis was reserved for wealthy amateurs, we can advance: Serena Williams is the greatest player in history.
“I wish it was easy, but it’s not”
If tennis Serena Williams is far from her glory (she won her first match in Toronto on Monday in 430 days), her charisma is not undermined. The impact of his announcement will prove it. “I’m torn: I don’t want it to end, and at the same time I’m ready for what’s next. It’s the end of a story that started in Compton [un quartier de Los Angeles, ndlr], in California, with a little black girl who just wanted to play tennis”she said to Vogue. “There is no happiness for me in that, she continues. It’s a big pain. It’s the hardest thing I could imagine. I hate that. I hate being at a crossroads. I wish it were easy, but it isn’t. This sport has given me so much. I love winning. I love fighting. I love doing the show […]. When I talk about it [de la fin de sa carrière]I’m crying […]. But today, if I have to choose between build my tennis CV and build my familyI choose my family [elle au une petite fille, Alexis, née le 1er septembre 2017].»
We imagine the puzzle of the organizers of the US Open. How not to systematically schedule Serena Williams’ matches at the US Open, on the Arthur Ashe court – named after the first black champion in the history of tennis, which would be highly symbolic – the first in the world in terms of capacity ( more than 25,000 people), during one of these night sessions which set fire to the New Yorker’s tournament. Whatever the ground on which she will hit her last ball, the spectators will be, like her, drowned in emotion. But later, they can say: “I was there.”