BackSerena Williams loses 'likely-last match' at US Open to Tomljanovic
Serena Williams staved off five match points to prolong the three-hours-plus proceedings when some spectators were still standing to watch, camera phones at the ready. However, Ajla Tomljanovic did it in the sixth chance, when Williams netted a shot.
PremiumSerena Williams, 23-time Grand Slam winner and an inspiration for millions across the globe, has been eliminated from the US Open in the third round at Arthus Ashe Stadium after she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic. The match was expected to be the last match of her transcendent tennis career on Friday night, according to the news agency AP.
She staved off five match points to prolong the three-hours-plus proceedings when some spectators were still standing to watch, camera phones at the ready. However, Ajla Tomljanovic did it in the sixth chance, when Williams netted a shot.
Earlier in August, she announced her retirement and all set to bid an emotional farewell to professional tennis.
The 40-year-old sporting and cultural icon won the first of her Grand Slam titles at the same venue in 1999 as a 17-year-old prodigy.
Serena's second venture
Bidding farewell to tennis isn't the end of her story. Williams has thought about what’s next, however, she is still unaware of how she feels about it.
She clarified she will re-direct her curiosity and drive into her investment firm, Serena Ventures. She’ll kindle her spiritual life. She’ll evolve as a mom. “I think I’m good at it," she says of parenthood. “But I want to explore if I can be great at it."
Speaking about her next, i.e. Serena Ventures, she told Vogue earlier this month, that the investment firm has now funded 16 companies valued at $1 billion or more, and that 78 percent of its portfolio are companies started by women or people of color.
“I kind of understood … that someone who looks like me needs to start writing the big checks," Williams wrote. “Sometimes like attracts like. Men are writing those big checks to one another, and in order for us to change that, more people who look like me need to be in that position, giving money back to themselves."
(With inputs from agencies)
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