By Jordan Long
The last major tennis tournament of the year is coming up, the US Open starting on August 29th to September 11. This is the last time Serena Williams will take the court. She is going to retire following the tournament.
Williams started her Hall of Fame tennis career during the 1998 season playing in all 4 majors, The Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. The furthest she advanced was the round of 16 in the French Open. Williams’ first ever major win came in 1999 at the US Open. She would end up winning that tournament 5 more times after that season.
Williams never completed the Grand Slam in one calendar year but she has won every single Major tournament. She came close to the Grand Slam in 2002 and 2015. In 2002, Williams didn’t win the Australian open. 2015 her missing piece ended up being the US Open where Williams was knocked off in the semi-finals by Roberta Vinci.
This year, Williams appeared in one tournament, Wimbledon. She was beaten in the first round. Williams feels it is time to leave the game of tennis after the US Open. According to MSN.com, Williams said, “I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this 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. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
Williams will go down as one of the top women to ever play the game of tennis. She won every Major tournament for a total of 23, 2nd in the history of women’s tennis. The two tournaments she won the most are the Australian Open and Wimbledon, both at 7. The US Open is at 6 while her lowest was the French Open where she only won it 3 times. The only women’s player who has more career single major wins than her is Margaret Court at 24. Of course, Williams could tie her if she wins the US Open. Williams also appeared in the Olympic games where she won gold in 2000, 2008, and 2012 in doubles. Her lone gold for singles came in London during the 2012 games.
No matter what happens at the US Open, Williams can hold her head high. She was one of the top players to ever play the game of tennis. Williams will be missed.
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