They came from all over for Serena, last name not required, which befits someone as iconic as she is a superstar athlete to watch her practice and play and, it turned out, win a match at the US Open on Monday night, resulting in record numbers. to fill Arthur Ashe Stadium and shout and clap and shake her fists along with her.
Serena Williams is not ready to say goodbye yet. Neither, clearly, are her fans. And she heard them, loud and clear.
In her first match at what is expected to be the last US Open and the last tournament of her remarkable playing career, though she insists she won’t tell all, Williams overcame a shaky start to beat Danka Kovinic 6 -3, 6 -3 in the middle of an atmosphere more of a party than a farewell.
What memory will stay with her most of the night?
“When I came out, the reception was really overwhelming. It was strong and I could feel it in my chest. It was a really good feeling,” said the owner of six US Open championships and 23 Grand Slam titles overall, numbers unsurpassed by any other player in the professional era of the sport.
It’s a feeling I’ll never forget,” she added. “Yeah, that meant a lot to me.”
This opening outing against Kovinic, a 27-year-old from Montenegro ranked 80th, became an event with a capital “E.” Spike Lee participated in the per-match coin toss. Former President Bill Clinton was in the stands. So were Mike Tyson and Martina Navratilova, sitting next to each other. And sitting with Dad and Grandma was Williams’ daughter, Olympia, who turns 5 on Thursday, wearing white beads in her hair just like Mom did while winning the U.S. Open for the first time at age 17 back in 1999.
Williams is now 40, and told the world three weeks ago via an essay for Vogue that she was ready to concentrate on having a second child and her venture capital firm.
Asked after her victory Monday whether this will definitively be her final tournament, Williams replied with a knowing smile: “Yeah, I’ve been pretty vague about it, right?”
Then she added: “I’m going to stay vague, because you never know.”
The night session drew 29,000 folks, a high for the tournament — more than 23,000 were in Ashe; thousands more watched on a video screen outside the arena — and the place was as loud as ever. Certainly louder than any other first-round match in memory.
She rolled through the end of that opening set, capping it with a service winner she reacted to with clenched fists and her trademark cry of “Come on!” That was met with thunderous cheers and applause — as was the ending of the 1-hour, 40-minute contest, as if another trophy had been earned.
Instead, there is plenty more work to be done. Williams will play in the second round of singles on Wednesday against No. 2 seed Anett Kontveit of Estonia. And there’s also doubles, too: Williams and her sister, Venus, are entered together in that competition, with their initial match slated for Wednesday or Thursday.
That’s why Monday mattered more than the usual Day 1 in a major tournament. And why did the daily show make no mention of any of the dozens of other athletes in action, instead showing a montage of six images of Williams holding her six U.S. trophies? Open on the title: “Serena Williams, A Legacy of Greatness”. And why was there a lesser feel for matches with wins for other elite players, like former US Open champions Bianca Andreescu, Andy Murray and Daniil Medvedev, or French Open finalist Coco Gauff, an 18-year-old American.
After her own 6-2, 6-3 win over Leolia Jeanjean earlier in the day, Gauff was looking forward to sitting in Ashe to see Williams, someone she credits with inspiring her to play tennis. Gauff’s original plan was to tune in to the television, but then he decided it was too important to miss.
“Everyone is going to be on her side. I’m going to cheer her on,” Gauff said. “It will probably be one of the most electric matches that has ever happened in tennis.”
She lived up to the billing.
Now there is more to come for Williams and her fans.