NY Times · Sep 1, 2022
U.S. Open Live: Serena Williams Advances to the Third Round
The U.S. Open threw the closest thing to a farewell celebration that Serena Williams would allow for her opening-round match Monday night, but if a party was all that the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion wanted she could have thrown herself one and skipped all those hours of sweat on the hard courts back home in Florida.
Williams did not come to New York simply for a ceremonial send-off, to listen to another series of elegies about how she has changed this sport and so much else, how she has broken down barriers and paved the way for the next generation of Black tennis stars and female athletes, and the one after that, too. She knew all of that, better than anyone.