Serena Williams Puts On Triumphant Opening Act to Her Farewell Tour

The six-time U.S. Open champion won in straight sets against 27-year-old Montenegro native Danka Kovinić, but what should we expect of her over the next couple weeks?

Serena Williams still has at least one match left in her professional tennis career. After previously announcing the 2022 U.S. Open would be her last tournament, the 23-time major champion dispatched of 27-year-old Montenegro native Danka Kovinić in straight sets, 6–3, 6–3, on Monday night. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim and Chris Almeida discuss how Williams played in what could have been her swan song and what the expectations for her should be going forward.

Chris Almeida: Serena Williams is not done yet. She made her first-round match look like, well, a first-round match. It's very different than the one that we saw at Wimbledon. She got off to a little bit of a nervy start—it seemed like she was feeling the moment a little bit when she threw in a couple of double faults in that first game. But after that, she seemed to turn it on. She served very well. She was moving just fine, hitting the ball like she always did. Given, this was against Danka Kovinić, who has never been inside the world’s top 40. In the next round, she’s got the second seed, Anett Kontaveit, waiting for her. So things are going to get a lot harder quickly. But tonight, she gave the crowd what they wanted.

Jon Wertheim: It was a convincing Serena Williams impersonation. Keep in mind, in Cincinnati, she lost her last set before this 0–6 to Emma Raducanu, a player who hasn't won more than 50 percent of her matches this year. So, going into this, there was a bit of a vibe of: let's hope for a competitive match. She was great! I think we need to still manage expectations—I don’t think she’s going to win the tournament, but she looks like exactly what you said. This was a Serena Williams first-round match.

Serena Williams looked better than she had in a while in what could have been her final professional tennis match.

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

At first, she was a little shaky. She was down 2–3 and then won 12 of the next 15 games. It was like a little microcosm. We've seen this movie before. Right? So, yeah, she plays the No. 2 seed next, but this is not a particularly credentialed No. 2 seed. Kontaveit has had some COVID recovery issues. This is a winnable second-round match against the second seed. We are a long, long way from a storybook ending, but she sure looked good tonight.

CA: So the last time that I feel like we really had a big farewell like this in tennis was a long time ago with Andre Agassi in 2006. And that second-round match is what ended up being the big one. He played Marcos Baghdatis and that went very deep into the night. It went five sets. Both guys were cramping at the end. It was very dramatic. So I don’t want to project too far here, but yeah, this does feel like the type of No. 2 seed that could be vulnerable, and we could get a fun experience for nearly everybody involved.

Now I want to hedge a little here. I think that the ESPN crew was doing a bit much when they were saying, Oh my gosh, Serena is back, she looks like she did when she was at her best. I don’t think that’s true, but I will say that I don't see any reason why she couldn't give it a run in the next round. This field is so, so wide open.

JW: We’re coming off a year at the U.S. Open in which an unseeded teenager in Raducanu got through the qualifiers and won the title. Is Serena winning any less likely than that?

I think the Agassi comparison is a good one. He wasn't 40, but he was north of 35. His back was hurting. But his kids were there, he got to give us a little night for the memory bank. And he was just depleted the match after that. I don't think anyone realistically thought he was going to win the title. And I think you're right that this is a wide-open field. As we speak, seeds are dropping left and right. Crazier things have happened than a six-time champion winning a seventh. But if she can beat the No. 2 seed and give us one more memory, I think that's a more reasonable expectation.

Two weeks ago, she lost that match in Cincinnati and they were supposed to have a ceremony for her and she was so upset. She left and there wasn't a press conference. I heard she didn't even take a shower—she just went to the car and left the venue. This was a lot different than that. She looked like a completely different player. It couldn't have gone better. So now, we’ll do this again in two days.

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