So that’s it.
After 23 grand-slam titles, more than a thousand matches, and innumerable GOAT debates, Serena Williams’ professional tennis career is over.
It wasn’t the mic-drop, record-equalling 24th major singles title ending she had dreamed of, but this week has still been a thrilling New York goodbye, and her departure will be remembered as one of the most significant dates in tennis history. The day that Williams, after a quarter of a century of domination, said farewell to tennis, a sport she has helped to define. Many followers of tennis do not know a world in which Williams isn’t a dominant figure in the game. She played her first qualifier for a professional tournament in 1995, her first main-draw match two years later, and won her first grand slam as a 17-year-old at the US Open in 1999.
Since Williams announced her intention to retire in August, the tributes have been numerous and heartfelt. And there are few superlatives left to describe someone who has achieved as much as she has.
Williams celebrates her 1999 US Open (Photo: Jamie Squire /Allsport)
But it still feels important to put one of the greatest sporting careers of all time into proper context. To explain why when reliving her career there are so many that-cannot-be-true moments.
Like the…
