“I’ve never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking about it as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community. of people,” Williams said in the Vogue article published earlier this month.
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m doing is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, towards other things that are important to me,” he said.
In her postmatch press conference on Monday, Williams was asked if this is definitely her last tournament.
“Yeah, I’ve been pretty vague about it, haven’t I?” she said with a smile. “I’ll stay idle because you never know.”
Williams will also open doubles play with her sister Venus Williams on Wednesday.
The firstround win over Kovinić was the best Serena Williams has seen since returning from injury. She has only managed to win one match since returning to the circuit in June and has failed to match the form that helped her win her last Grand Slam title in 2017.
While Williams was still a long way from that level in Monday’s win over Kovinić, it will certainly have given her hope that her last dance at the US Open could be extended.
One of the greatest tennis players ever, Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and won the US Open six times, most recently in 2014. Now 40, Williams’ career will close as his last game, in whatever. round it turns out to be, will be played at the site of the first of his Grand Slam singles victories, the 1999 US Open.
Then just a teenager, Williams burst onto the scene to stun world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final and set the first step on her path to two decades of dominance.
Harder test this time
In world No.2 Kontaveit, however, Williams faces a much tougher test in the second round and will undoubtedly be the underdog.
After Kontaveit won her first Tourlevel title in 2017, her true breakout year came in 2021 as she won four WTA tournaments to climb the rankings.
An aggressive player with a varied game and a powerful forehand, Kontaveit broke into the world top 10 for the first time in November 2021 and has been a mainstay ever since.
He is ranked second in his career, the highest ever for an Estonian, and at 26 will no doubt be looking to improve on his best Grand Slam performance, a quarterfinal appearance at the Australian 2020. Open.
Kontaveit looked impressive in her US Open firstround victory against Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian, dropping just three games, and said after her win that she was “rooting” for Williams in her match first round and that she is “very excited” to play there. she
“I’ve never played against her. I mean, this is the last chance,” he told reporters. “Better late than never.
“I’m really excited. I think the atmosphere is going to be amazing. I’m really looking forward to it.”
CNN’s Steve Almasy contributed to this report.