There is no greater expression of Serena’s love for the sport than how long she stayed and many times she came back. She played on till the end, the very end
As Serena Williams stood one tiebreak away from her demise in the second set of the breathless, unforgettable final match of her career, a deafening wall of noise on Arthur Ashe Stadium punctuated every minor victory she achieved. She had led 5-3 in the first set, only for her lead to crumble. When she established a 5-2 lead in the second set, her four set points evaporated in a flash. Each time she came close, she was arrested by tension, rust, nerves.
Nothing went her way, but Willams did what she has done for 27 years: she fought. She tore into forehands, her loud, piercing grunts following every act. She desperately sprinted for every last ball, she pumped her fists and hollered at herself in encouragement. Somehow, she dragged herself over the line in the second set tiebreak, crunching a searing forehand winner off a 20-shot rally, engineering one of her final moments of defiance.
