Serena Williams wins first round match at U.S. open

 Serena Williams just yet is not ready to say goodbye. In her first match to overwhelm what is expected to be the last U.S. Open and last tournament of her remarkable playing career, Williams overcame a shaky start on Monday night Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-3 in a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium with an atmosphere more akin to a festival than a farewell.

At about 6:15 p.m., beside Arthur Ashe Stadium for a half-hour hitting session to warm up, Williams made the short walk to the practice courts.  With shrieks of “Serenaaaaa!” On her way in above the practice area folks packing the bleachers greeted her, and again yelled on her way out, before Williams strode, lips pursed, back into the stadium receiving a wave of her racket as acknowledgement.  

The match began about 45 minutes after that, and it was as clear as ever that she means a lot to a lot of people. As a tennis player, as a woman, as an African American, as a mother and as a businesswoman. 

Early, Williams was not at her best. There were double-faults. Other missed strokes, missed opportunities. Moreover, up 2-0 she went, but then quickly trailed 3-2. Suddenly, then, Williams, from turning 41 less than a month, with six championships looked more like someone at Flushing Meadows and 23 Grand Slam titles in all numbers never exceeded by anyone in the professional era of tennis, which started in 1968.

The USTA said for the tournament on the day it sold more than 16,500 tickets Williams revealed her intentions, more than in the previous seven days combined. For Monday night alone that included more than 4,600, making it a sellout. 

Both Monroe and Thorn said that for both the daytime and nighttime sessions they have tickets, which are sold separately, for each of the tournament’s initial three days. 

They will come again to the U.S. Open from far and wide for Serena, and there seems no doubt, no last name required, befitting someone as much an icon as superstar athlete eager to see her play. However, to hold the right ticket if not lucky enough by hoping for an autograph, a glance at her practicing or merely the chance to breathe the same Flushing Meadows air as her. 

Through the end of that opening set she rolled, capping it with a service winner she reacted to with clenched fists and her trademark cry of “Come on!” The more than 23,000 rose for a raucous standing ovation in attendance and when the 1-hour, 40-minute contest was over did so again, by celebrating it as if another trophy had been earned. 

During a ceremony after her victory Williams still didn’t definitively say she was retiring. But in front of everyone she made it clear that she is ready for different things, by saying that “in life there’s other chapters.” 

Onto the court as well as Billie Jean King the ceremony, which included her husband and daughter coming, included a tribute narrated by Oprah Winfrey titled “Dear Serena.” At last, it said that “We’ll be watching just know whatever you do next. All of us, with love.”

On Wednesday next up for Williams is a second round clash against Anett Kontveit of Estonia.  

Source:- https://bloggerstow.com/serena-williams-wins-first-round-match-at-u-s-open/