For what it was, barring a change of heart, the final minutes of her excellence on the tennis court and an unrelenting reluctance to be told what wasn’t possible, Williams attempted one last classic comeback, one last vintage win , with fans on their feet in a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium, cellphone cameras at the ready. The 23-time Grand Slam champion fended off five match points to extend the three-plus hour mark but could do no more and was knocked out of the US Open in the third round by Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-7 ( 4), 6-1 on Friday night in what is expected to be her final matchup. “I’ve fallen in the past. … I’m not really giving up,” Williams said. “In my career I never gave up. I don’t give up in matches. I certainly wasn’t giving up tonight.” She turns 41 this month and recently told the world she was ready to start “evolving” away from her playing days – she expressed distaste for the word ‘retirement’ – and while she remained deliberately vague about whether this appearance in Flushing Meadows will surely represent her last streak, everyone assumed it would be. “It’s been the most incredible ride and journey I’ve ever been on in my life,” Williams said, tears streaming down her cheeks shortly after the final shot hit the net. “I am so grateful to every single person who has ever said ‘Go, Serena!’ in their life”. Asked during a court interview if she might reconsider moving away, Williams replied: “I don’t think so, but you never know.” Shortly afterwards, pressed on the same issue in her post-match press conference, Williams joked: “I’ve always loved Australia,” the country that hosts the next Grand Slam tournament in January. With two singles wins this week, including over world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit on Wednesday, Williams took her fans on a thrilling minute-by-minute journey at the hard-court tournament that has been the site of a half-dozen of the championships her. The first came in 1999 in New York, when Williams was a teenager. Now she is married and a mother. Her daughter, Olympia, turned 5 on Thursday. “Clearly, I’m still capable. … (But) I’m ready to be a mom, to explore a different version of Serena,” she said. “Technically, in the world, I’m still very young, so I want to live some life while I’m still walking.” With 23,859 of her closest friends cheering again on Friday, Williams faced off against Tomljanovic, a 29-year-old Australian ranked 46th. Williams led in every set, including the last, in which she led 1-0 before losing the last six games. Tomljanovic is undeniably a fan of Williams, having grown up watching her play on television. “I’m so sorry, just because I love Serena as much as you do. And what he’s done for me, for the sport of tennis, it’s incredible,” said Tomljanovic, who has never made it past the quarterfinals at a major. “This is a surreal moment for me.” Then, to laughter, Tomljanovic added: “I just thought he was going to beat me. … It’s Serena. That’s exactly what she is: She’s the greatest of all time. Period.” Asked what she planned to do on the first day of the rest of her life on Saturday, Williams said she would rest, spend time with Olympia, then added, “Definitely probably going to karaoke.” Her racquet performance on Friday showed toughness and she had a terrific serve, but it wasn’t perfect. At one point in the second set, Williams’ legs got tangled and she fell to the court, dropping her racket. He finished with 51 errors, 21 more than Tomljanovic. Williams let a 5-3 lead slip away in the first set. She did a similar thing in the second, giving away 4-0 and 5-2 leads, and requiring five set points to finally put it in her pocket. From 4-all in the tiebreak, which meant Williams was three points away from defeat, she hit a 117mph ace, hit a forehand winner to seal a 20-stroke exchange, then watched Tomljanovic push away a for Momentum appeared to be on Williams’ side. But he couldn’t achieve the triumph of never admitting defeat that he did so often over the years. “Oh my God, thank you so much. You guys were amazing today. I tried,” Williams told the audience, hands on her hips, before mentioning, among others, her parents and her older sister Venus, a seven-time champion who is 42. “I wouldn’t be Serena if Venus didn’t exist. So thank you, Venus,” Williams said. “She’s the only reason Serena Williams ever existed.” They got their start in tennis as kids in Compton, California, coached by their father, Richard, who taught himself the sport after watching on TV as a player received a winner’s check. He was the central figure in the Oscar-winning film ‘King Richard’, produced by his daughters. The brothers lost together in the first round of the doubles Thursday night, bringing another sellout. And on Friday, as in the younger Williams’ other outings this week, there was no doubt which player the paying public preferred. When Tomljanovic broke to go up 6-5 as part of a four-game run to take the opening set, one person in her visitors’ box rose to applaud — and he was almost alone. Otherwise, people applauded when Tomljanovic double-faulted, which was generally considered a fake pass to the tennis crowd. They became strong in the middle of long exchanges, which were also frowned upon. They gave sympathetic sounds of “Awwwwww” when Williams made a hit, and jumped from their seats when she did something they thought was brilliant. A rather ordinary service break was cause for applause. Tomljanovic wore a blue and white US Open towel over her head in the changes, shielding herself from the noise and distractions. “I just blocked it out as much as I could. It came to me a few times, internally. I mean, I didn’t take it personally because, I mean, I would be cheering for Serena too if I wasn’t playing her,” Tomljanovic said. “But it sure wasn’t easy.” After Williams hit a backhand volley winner to take a 4-0 lead in the second set, her game improving with each passing moment, the reaction was ear-splitting. Billie Jean King, Hall of Famer with 39 Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, raised her cell phone to capture the scene. “You are everywhere!” yelled Williams’ husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, from a courtside guest box that also contained power couple Ciara and Russell Wilson. When Williams reeled off two straight winners to take a 5-2 lead in the second set, she screamed and leaned forward after each one. He could not maintain this level. Williams entered the night riding a streak of 19 consecutive US Open third-round singles victories, including reaching at least the semifinals in her most recent 11 appearances in New York. Talk about a full-circle moment: The only other third-round loss she’s ever had at Flushing Meadows (she’s 42-0 in the first and second rounds) came in 1998, the year Williams made her tournament debut at age 16 years. She would win her first major trophy 12 months later at the US Open. And now he said goodbye to her on the same field. “It’s been a long time. I’ve been playing tennis my whole life,” Williams said Friday night after performing a final spin and wave that’s usually reserved for victories. “It’s a little short, but I’m also happy because, I mean, that’s what I wanted , what I want”.
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