Venus Williams, 46, is out of the US Open after losing in straight sets to Sofia Kenin. The match started at 12:13 a.m. local time, the latest start time in the tournament’s history.

She lost 6-2, 7-6 (6) and had a handful of set points in the second set that she could not capitalize on. It was not an uncompetitive loss like some of her other losses over the past year, but it wasn’t pretty either.

The delay stemmed from the five-set bout between Mariano Navone and Novak Djokovic, in which Navone pulled off the upset. The start was six minutes later than the previous start-time record, set in 2024.

Williams, who received a wild card into the event, has received wild cards throughout the year at many tournaments. She has now lost 15 consecutive matches in singles and hasn’t picked up a victory in over a year. Her last win came in July 2025, and many people are questioning whether she should keep playing and whether these tournaments should keep giving her wild cards.

The road for Venus Williams at the US Open is not over yet. She will play doubles with her sister, Serena Williams. The sister duo has won the US Open doubles title twice, including as teenagers in 1999. Serena recently returned from retirement after being away from the sport. Serena just played mixed doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, and they picked up a win in that tournament before losing in the second round. The Williams sisters played doubles in Cincinnati and lost in the first round.

As her career winds down, Venus’s timetable is unknown, but she hasn’t won a US Open match since 2019 and would need a wild card to get another opportunity. The US Open would probably give her one for her farewell tour if she chooses, but there is no guarantee.

With many doubles specialists upset that the mixed doubles event at the US Open has shifted to a singles-style format, they didn’t back themselves on day one.

Of the 32 doubles players in the draw, only nine of them were doubles specialists. Four doubles specialist teams entered, and world No. 5 player Taylor Townsend teamed up with Roland Garros Champion Sascha Zverev. Every single one of those nine players was eliminated on day one by singles players.

Doubles and singles are two completely different styles of the sport, and two doubles specialist teams had to qualify to get into the event, including Henry Patten and Katerina Siniakova, the number 1 doubles players in the world on the men’s and women’s side, respectively.

There was a lot of discourse about how it was unfair that they had to qualify while the singles players got in automatically. The argument was that singles players bring the eyeballs, while also giving the best doubles players in the world a chance to compete. During qualifying, Siniakova expressed her displeasure at having to qualify for a doubles tournament while being number one in the world.

Unfortunately, like everyone else, they did not back up their argument that they are the better doubles players. Patten and Siniakova were one of four doubles specialist teams eliminated on day one, losing to Elina Svitolina and her husband, the retiring Gael Monfils. This was a massive upset, as Monfils and Svitolina were up to four-to-one on some odds boards. Many people considered them a charity wild card team as part of Monfils’ farewell tour. They were the longest shot pre-tournament to win the event.

They were not the only team to lose in such fashion, as the headlining team of Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams came back from a break down and bulldozed their way through the doubles specialist team of Lloyd Glasspool and Erin Routliffe in another huge upset. Alcaraz and Williams would go on to lose in round two, but it was one more round than they were expected to make it to.

The other doubles specialists also lost to teams made up of singles players, in what seemed like a rattling experience for many of them. The team of Routliffe and Glasspool looked stunned, making mistakes they never make on the doubles court. Perhaps the pressure of being the favorite on such a big stage against such big names got to them, and they were not all able to handle that pressure.

The lone doubles specialist team in last year’s draw to win the title, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, began their defense with a first-set win over singles stars Andrey Rublev and Mirra Andreeva, but in a final-set tiebreak, the defending champions exited in the first round.

Errani and Vavassori winning the title as the lone doubles team last year upset many people who felt singles players should have had all the spots, and it helped explain why there were more doubles specialists in the draw this year.

It is common for doubles specialists to beat singles teams in main draws on both the men’s and women’s doubles sides. With added pressure now on the doubles specialists on a huge stage this year at the US Open, they folded and were outclassed throughout the day by the singles players.

This mixed doubles format at the US Open is only two years old, so it will be interesting to see what changes they make next year after this shocking performance from the doubles players. No matter what happens today, the US Open mixed doubles champion will be a team of two singles players.

Last year, the US Open decided to format its mixed doubles championship differently than it ever had.

Instead of holding the competition alongside the other doubles and singles championships, they moved it outside the standard fortnight and into fan week. Fan week takes place the week before the main draws begin, with exhibitions and fan events all leading up to the Sunday start.

Many tennis fans don’t watch much of the mixed doubles draw in most tournaments because it is just a lot of tennis with all the other draws going on, and for the same reason, many singles players and stars don’t play mixed doubles if they are already playing in the other draws.

The USTA moving the mixed doubles draw to a fast format (sets that are first to four instead of six) and during fan week has attracted singles stars and has drawn more eyeballs on the event. This also makes the US Open a full-blown three-week event, unlike any other Grand Slam.

However successful as last year’s event was, it did come with one issue. The problem with the inaugural run was that only one team in the 16-team draw was made up of doubles specialists. If you watch tennis, you learn quickly that singles and doubles are two completely different sports.

Many great doubles players aren’t great singles players, and vice versa. Many doubles specialists were upset that singles players took their spot. Singles rankings were how you qualified, and plenty of teams had never played with their partner before or played much doubles at all in the past. Doubles specialists practice week in and week out with the same partner, mastering their craft as a team.

This was highlighted when the singular doubles specialist team in the draw won the whole thing. Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani are an Italian duo who have each won multiple Grand Slams. They opened casual fans’ eyes to just how different doubles and singles are. En route to their title, they defeated some of the best singles players in the world.

In the final, the pair beat six-time singles grand slam champion Iga Swiatek and her partner, two-time grand slam finalist Casper Ruud. Keep in mind Errani and Vavassori are two players that probably wouldn’t win more than a game against these stars in singles. Errani has not won a main draw singles match in over two years and is unranked, while Vavassori is ranked 613 in the world in singles. Swiatek was the reigning ladies’ Wimbledon champion when this took place.

This year, the draw has been expanded to get the best doubles specialists in the tournament. An eight-team qualifying draw begins today, filled with doubles specialists. Two teams will move on to the 16-team main draw that starts tomorrow, still primarily filled with singles players.

The change sets the event up for massive success, with all the eyeballs on it, while not completely taking spots away from doubles players. Some of the biggest names in the sport, such as Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams, will be playing in the event.

Adding more doubles specialists will also be great for the sport, as it will continue to highlight how good these doubles athletes are. Doubles doesn’t get the same recognition as singles on TV, but it is very popular recreationally and is entertaining to watch when it is available to the casual fan.

The favorites to win the event will undoubtedly be the doubles specialists, but there are some primary singles players in the event that know their way around a doubles court, so there is always potential for an upset.

Fan week at the US Open will continue until Saturday, and the main singles draws will begin on Sunday.

In what was supposed to be the final match of her illustrious career, Serena Williams pulled off a massive upset in the second round of the U.S. Open Wednesday night.

By defeating Anett Kontaveit, currently ranked second in the world in women’s singles competition, in three sets, Williams has bought herself at least one more match in a run that could become legendary.

Because of her 23 Grand Slam titles, Williams is not the sort of player many would consider an underdog, but the magnitude of her victory against Kontaveit cannot be understated.

Williams’ last Grand Slam tournament victory came in 2017, and going into her second-round U.S. Open matchup, she had only played in five matches in 2022.

Before the tournament began, Williams announced her retirement on Aug. 9 and said that the U.S. Open would be her last appearance in professional tennis. A loss at any point now will end her career.

Many suspected that it would all come to a close against Kontaveit, with celebrities like Tiger Woods, Spike Lee, Zendaya and many more in attendance likely prepared to send off the greatest player in the history of her sport in style.

Instead, the record crowd of nearly 30,000 at Arthur Ashe Stadium saw a battle from the opening serve, as Williams fought voraciously to seize a competitive first set before coming back to take the third in commanding fashion and win.

The victory stops the clock for now but the road ahead is long. In a 10-round tournament, it’s easy for Williams’ fans to dream of a return to the U.S. Open Finals following her shocking upset win. Her potential run is already drawing comparisons to Woods’ return to glory in the 2019 Masters – and it hasn’t even happened yet. But for the 40-year-old legend, enjoying the moment after the match was what mattered.

“It’s no rush here,” Williams said in an interview after the match. “I’m loving this crowd. Oh my goodness. It’s really fantastic. So there’s a little left in me.”

At another point in her interview, the on-court reporter asked Williams if she was surprised at her performance against Kontaveit, and the improbable winner’s reaction told the story better than any eloquent response. She laughed. Then she replied, ”I’m just Serena.”

Williams’ next match will be against 29-year-old Australian-Croatian player Ajla Tomljanovic on Friday.

Once 50-1 to win the tournament, Williams is now one of the favorites and may not have to face another ranked player until the fifth round.

Serena Williams, one of the greatest athletes, and certainly one of the greatest tennis players ever, has announced that she will retire after the 2022 U.S Open.

In a piece written for her cover shoot with Vogue, Williams said that she’s ready to move on to new things despite her love for tennis.

Gracing the cover of Vogue‘s September issue, the 40-year-old conceded that her time with tennis has to come to an end.

“But I’ve been reluctant to admit to myself or anyone else that I have to move on from playing tennis,” Williams said. “Alexis, my husband, and I have hardly talked about it; it’s like a taboo topic. I can’t even have this conversation with my mom and dad. It’s like it’s not real until you say it out loud. It comes up, I get an uncomfortable lump in my throat, and I start to cry. The only person I’ve really gone there with is my therapist!”

Retirement has always been the ever-looming cloud over the twilight of Williams’ career since the birth of her daughter in 2017. She had won her last major, the 2017 Australian Open, at eight weeks pregnant. After an emergency C-section that September, a pulmonary embolism kept her bedridden for six weeks.

Retirement didn’t come then, however, as she came back and played through postpartum depression and breastfeeding but never captured another major. In 2021, she went into Wimbledon playing the best tennis she’s had in a while.

Then a leg injury in the first round took her out for a year. Retirement was shoved to the back burner again when she returned to the All-England Club but suffered a first-round defeat to Harmony Tan.

Williams also expressed her pain of leaving the game that she’s played for most of her life.

“I know it’s not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain,” she wrote. “It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine. I hate it. I hate that I have to be at this crossroads. I keep saying to myself, I wish it could be easy for me, but it’s not. I’m torn: I don’t want it to be over, but at the same time I’m ready for what’s next.”

Williams is still one of the most accomplished tennis players ever. Her 23 Grand Slam titles are second most of all time, only trailing the legendary Margaret Court and the most in the Open Era. She is also the only player ever to win 10 or more Grand Slam titles in two septette decades (10 in the 2000s and 12 in the 2010s)

Williams will play in the 2022 U.S. Open in New York in August, and she vows to give her all.

In her first match in about a year, Serena Williams suffered a surprising defeat at the hands of #115 ranked Harmony Tan. In the first round of Wimbledon on Tuesday. The match featured a 10-point third-set tiebreak to end the stalemate.

Williams took the court for the first time since Wimbledon 2021 when a torn hamstring forced her to retire in a first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich. This was her 21st time playing at Wimbledon, a competition where she had made the final 11 times and won seven. Williams got off to a slow start, losing the first set 7-5, taking the second set 6-1, and reaching a ten-point tie break on the third and final set. After the match, Williams told reporters she gave all she could in the loss. “Today I gave all I could do, you know, today,” she said. “Maybe tomorrow I could have gave more. Maybe a week ago I could have gave more. But today was what I could do. At some point, you have to be able to be ok with that. And that’s all I can do. I can’t change time or anything, so, that’s all I could do on this particular day.”

This was Tan’s main draw debut at Wimbledon, and she stunned one of the best tennis players in history. “It’s a dream because, you know, I saw Serena on the TV when I was young. My coach, Nathalie Tauziat, played her 20 years ago,” Tan said. “She’s a legend. I mean, she won 23 Grand Slams. When you play her, I was scared. I mean, I was scared when I was on the court but really happy to be there.”

Tan however drew controversy after withdrawing from her double match with a thigh injury. Her partner Tamara Korpatsch wrote on social media that she was disappointed due to her late drop. “She just texted me this morning,” she said. “Let me wait here [one] hour before the match start. I’m very sad, disappointed and also very angry that I can’t play my 1st Doubles Grand Slam. It’s really not fair for me.”

As for Williams, many are speculating that she may be headed towards the end of her career. The 40-year-old has won 23 Grand Slams, the most of any player in the Open Era, but is still chasing Margaret Court’s record of 24. Since returning from childbirth in 2018, Williams has played in 14 majors, reaching the finals four of those times, and falling short in each one.

The next major, the U.S. Open, is slated for later this summer and Williams has not ruled out the idea of playing. “When you’re at home, especially in New York, and the U.S. Open, that being the first place I’ve won a Grand Slam, is something that’s always super special,” she said. “There’s definitely, you know, lots of motivation to get better and to play at home.”

Serena Williams is understandably furious and has said that The New York Times “can do better” after the paper published an article about her accompanied by an image of her sister, Venus Williams. She added that “[no] matter how far we come, we get reminded that it’s not enough.”

The article was in reference to Williams’ venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, which has raised an initial fund of $111 million.

“This is why I raised $111 million for [Serena Ventures],” the uber tennis star tweeted. “To support the founders who are overlooked by engrained systems woefully unaware of their biases.

“Because even I am overlooked. You can do better.”

To its credit, the Times mea culpa’d about four hours later in the replies.

“It was due to an error when selecting photos for the print edition, and it did not appear online. A correction will appear in tomorrow’s paper,” it wrote.

Williams’ husband, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, was miffed. He stated that “I’ve never had my photo swapped for another white dude,” while questioning how anybody couldn’t tell the difference between the siblings after 20 years in the spotlight.

Tennis legend Serena Williams announced on her Instagram page that she will not be participating in the upcoming U.S. Open after suffering a torn hamstring at Wimbledon. She will join a list of fellow tennis greats, notably Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Dominic Thiem, who will be opting out of the competition due to injury.

“After careful consideration and following the advice of my doctors and medical team, I have decided to withdraw from the U.S. Open to allow my body to heal completely from a torn hamstring,” Williams said, “New York is one of the most exciting cities in the world and one of my favorite places to play — I’ll miss seeing the fans but will be cheering everyone on from afar.”

In a phone interview with the Los Angeles Times, Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou expressed optimism that the 39-year-old will recover very shortly. “First of all, it is going to work out. We know it’s just a question of weeks,” he said, “We know also that if the U.S. would take place maybe three weeks later, she would be ready. So it’s just a question of time, so no particular stress there.”

The injury has raised questions over whether Williams is approaching the end of her dominant career. Her powerful style of play has helped her collect 39 Grand Slam titles, four Olympic gold medals and rake in over $94 million in prize money.

Novak Djokovic reached his 50th Grand Slam quarterfinal on Monday. Djokovic defeated Cristian Garin: 6-2, 6-4. 6-2.

Djokovic became the fifth player to reach 50 Grand Slam quarterfinals. He joins Roger Ferderer (57, entering Monday’s match), Chris Evert (54), Serena Williams (54) and Martina Navratilova (53). It was also his 12th quarterfinal berth at Wimbledon, which ties him with Arthur Gore for third place on the men’s all-time list, behind Ferderer’s 18 and Jimmy Connors‘ 14.

“It’s a privilege to break records in the sport that I truly love,” Djokovic said. “I’m devoted to this sport as much as I think anybody out there on the tour. I just try to do my best.”

The two-time defending Wimbledon champion will join a parade of newcomers in the final eight. First-timers include Canadian Denis Shapovalov, Italian Matteo Berrettini, Hungarian Marton Fucsovics and Russian Karen Khachanov. Bizarrely enough, Khachanov won the fifth set to beat American Sebastian Korda on his 21st birthday.

The Serbian tennis player will be looking for his sixth Wimbledon title and a record-tying 20th Grand Slam trophy. He will face Fucsovics on Wednesday.

Fucsovics became the first Hungarian man since 1981 to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam. He also became the first Hungarian to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Jozsef Asboth in 1948.

Fucsovics rallied back to defeat the Russian Andrey Rublev on Monday: 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. It was a sweet moment for the Hungarian tennis player because Rublev eliminated him in four straight tournaments earlier this season.

Djokovic will play Fuscovics on Wednesday in the highly anticipated quarterfinals match.

One of the greatest athletes of all time, Serena Williams took a rare defeat in her return to court, with a 7-6 (6), 7-5 loss to Nadia Podoroska on Wednesday in the second round of the Italian Open. It was Williams’ 1,000th tour-level match, an impressive feat added to the resume of the greatest women’s tennis player ever.

Her career record sits at 851-149. Williams came into this match as the eighth overall seed, but hadn’t played since the Australian Open, so the rust was certainly showing. Williams spoke to the media after her defeat. “It’s tough to have a first match on clay. It was definitely kind of good to go the distance and to try to be out there, but clearly I can do legions better,” said Williams, who has won the Italian Open four times. “Maybe I do need a few more matches, so I’m going to try to figure that out with my coach and my team and see what we would like to do. … I have been training for months, but it feels definitely different on clay to make that last adjustment.”

The 24 year-old Podoroska is building an impressive resume herself, as this is her third career win over a top-10 player.

“It’s special win,” Podoroska said. “As I said, she’s a great athlete. She did too many things for our sport. It’s history. So for me, it’s very special. But most of all, I’m happy the way I played. Like, I felt again comfortable on clay, on my game, and that’s most important for me.”

As for the rest of the tournament, a surprising number of heavyweights are down and out already. Both Simona Halep, the defending champion, and Naomi Osaka, the second overall seed and up and coming star are out as well. Halep suffered a left calf injury against Angelique Kerber, while Osaka lost to Jessica Pegula.

Serena Williams fell short of a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title, as she was defeated 6-3, 6-4 by Naomi Osaka in the Australian Open semifinals. Osaka, who also beat Williams in the 2018 U.S. Open final, reached her fourth major title match and stretched her winning streak to 20 matches by claiming the last eight points.

“I don’t know if there are any little kids out here today, but I was a little kid watching her play,” Osaka, 23, said about Williams, 39, to ESPN. “Just to be on the court playing against her, for me, is a dream.”

Osaka will face American Jennifer Brady for the championship on Saturday. Brady beat No. 25 Karolina Muchova, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the other semifinal. Brady previously lost to Osaka in three sets in the US Open semifinals back in September.

No. 3 seeded Osaka’s Grand Slam collection includes last year’s U.S. Open and the 2019 Australian Open, and she is one of the fiercest players in women’s tennis today. Before Osaka, that was Williams. However, Williams was off target for most of this contest, finishing with twice as many unforced errors (24) as winners (12). This may have been a passing of the torch as the greatest player of all time lost to this generation’s greatest player.

“I could have won. I could have been up 5-love,” Williams, who instead dropped five games in a row after taking a 2-0 lead, said. “I just made so many errors.”

Williams struggled particularly with her forehand, with no fewer than 10 unforced errors off that side in the first set alone. Williams was clearly frustrated early in the second set, as she leaned over and screamed, “Make a shot! Make a shot!”

Osaka got out to a shaky start, but it didn’t take long to correct herself and improve going forward. Osaka ended up powering in aces, putting groundstrokes where she wanted them, and successfully covering the court. Williams showed great quickness and movement in Melbourne but was not good enough to advance to the finals this time around.

Osaka became the third player to ever win their first two major matches against Williams. Venus Williams won her first three major meetings against her sister at the 1998 Australian Open, 2000 Wimbledon and 2001 U.S. Open. The other is Jennifer Capriati, who defeated Williams at the 2001 French Open and 2001 Wimbledon

Some are speculating that this might be the last match that Williams will play at the Australian Open. Although she is still one of the best in the game, retirement has to be on her mind. Williams turns 40 years old in September. After the match, Williams refused to answer if this would be her last appearance at the Australian Open. “I don’t know,” she said in her news conference. “If I ever say farewell, I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

It was obviously a very painful loss for Williams. Fans are hoping that they will be treated to many more majors from Williams. Time will tell. Ultimately, tennis is a better and more popular sports because of the legend.

Serena Williams continued her quest this week to tie the All-Time Grand Slam Masters record of 24 Championship wins as she bested a player 20 years younger, Caty McNally, in the second round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday.

Williams won the match 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. Earlier this week, Serena Williams stated in her post-game interview in her win against Maria Sharapova that she “Was not letting her in the match.”

It sounds like McNally was listening. McNally started the set with aces and off-balance deep shots that kept her pretty centered, while Williams danced back and forth trying to return the ball. McNally seemed in charge in the first set right up to her third point, when Williams made her way back to 3-3 as she aggressively approached the net with a few volleys. McNally answered with similar aggressiveness to win the set 7-5 with a beautiful spot serve that landed on the center tram line of Williams’ corner and that she threw out-of bounds.

This was Williams’ one and only set loss in a US Open 2nd round. She had won all previous 36 sets.

IN MEMORIAM: SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019 TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

But it would be McNally’s only such set, as Williams took over from there in a game that would last just under two hours. Although there were some great back-and-forth moments where McNally went 2-3 against Williams, Williams continued to be the aggressor towards the net, showing off her athleticism and ability to twist her body to shorten the court and not allowing her opponent to put the ball behind her.

Credit is due to the 17-year-old, as she kept up with Williams halfway through the contest while showing she was not intimated by the future legend. But it was all that animated Williams as she finished strong, winning the final set 6-1, as she put her foot on the gas and a few times even stared down her opponent after difficult plays.

It was quite an impressive debut for McNally, though, who was making her US Open debut. She won the doubles at the WTA with fellow teenager Coco Gauff. McNally’s current rank is 121st.

Serena Williams will play either Karolina Muchova or 29th-seed Hsieh Su-wei, depending on the winner.

Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova for the 19th time in 22 meetings between the 37-year-old North American and 32-year-old Russian in the first day of Grand Slam Finals at the U.S. Open on Monday.

Serena Williams looked strong as she finished Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 in a very quick game that lasted just 59 minutes at the U.S. Open. By contrast, Roger Federer took two hours and nine minutes to beat Sumit Nagal the same night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Williams and Sharapova both have the distinction of being two of six women to have won the Career Grand Slam in the past and to have been ranked No. 1 multiples times. However, the meetings between these two have been quite lopsided. Williams has won the last 19 meetings the two have had since 2003 and there has been talk of bad blood between the two (which Williams has denied).

A recent string of shoulder problems has lowered Sharapova’s ranking down do 87th (She is expected to rise outside of the top 100 after this last loss). Williams herself did not show signs of a back issue she had been dealing with recently. Instead, many noted this looked like her finest performance since coming back to the tour in March 2018 after the birth of her child.

IN MEMORIAM: SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019 TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

“I just feel like her game really matches up well against mine. I always said her ball somehow lands in my strike zone. I don’t know. It’s just perfect for me,” said Williams.

Williams took control and power early and the first set took 25 minutes to close for the 23-time Grand Slam champion. The pace and aggressiveness continued with Williams stating of Sharapova after the match, “I was not letting her in the match.”

GET U.S. Open Tickets Here! 

Sharapova stated that she had a procedure on her shoulder nearly four months ago that has hindered the number of matches she was able to play before unfortunately drawing Williams as her opponent on the first day of the finals. “After the long match against Kontaveit, I struggled with my shoulder for a week or so,” said Williams. “I was trying to get that back on track. I think I hit like over 200 serves in that match. That was a lot compared to what I did in practice beforehand.”

Williams is seeking her record-tying 24th Grand Slam title.

The timeless 37-year-olds in Roger Federer and Serena Williams prove to defy time for yet another year. Both players have been cruising through the early rounds of the Wimbledon, as Federer beat Matteo Berrenttini, the 17th seed in the round of 16, while Williams beat 30th seed Carla Suarez Navarro to advance to the quarterfinals in the tournament.

For the first time since 2014, Serena Williams trotted off the court, or in this case clay, while suffering a defeat during a major tournament’s first week at the French Open in Paris. Williams fell to fellow American Sofia Kenin after a 6-2, 7-5 final score on Saturday, shocking Williams and those following the 37-year-old as she sought out career Grand Slam victory number 24.

Unpredictably, this match’s results fell secondary as far surprises go, as No. 1-seeded Naomi Osaka’s bid to capture a French Open title ended after a crushing defeat to the No. 42-ranked Katerina Siniakova.

Kenin structured her game against Williams effectively, setting herself up to deliver multiple clean groundstrokes that led to pivotal points. After falling behind each set early, both times Williams battled back, yet eventually folded with mistakes, including a match–ending backhand stroke which sailed beyond the court, cementing Kenin’s win. After acquiring easily her most impressive career victory yet, the 20-year-old will now earns a spot against Australian Ashleigh Barty on Monday morning. Although any victory against Williams indeed stands as a career–highlighting achievement, Williams admittedly played not to her highest capabilities, as despite mentioning her enjoyment when playing in the tournament she almost withdrew amid a lingering knee issue.

Williams surely remains a top figure surrounding women’s tennis, but the once untouchable powerhouse now finds herself blazing down a bumpy road. Williams missed four Grand Slams during the 2017-18 season while going through her pregnancy. Williams also generated disappointment during last year’s French Open as she withdrew after experiencing discomfort from a chest muscle injuries.

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW  

Williams still managed to display her championship mindset and attitude, as both remained undeterred by her loss. Williams first credited Kenin’s outstanding play as she stated, “In that first set, in particular, she hit pretty much inches from the line, and I haven’t played anyone like that in a long time. I just saw a player that was playing unbelievable.” Williams later expressed her motivation to perform at a higher level at future tournaments on Instagram with a truly inspirational post. Most likely, Williams already has July 1 circled on her calendar, as there she’ll try and capture her next Grand Slam victory at Wimbledon.

Serena Williams is back in competition, this time for the French Open, seeking her 24th major singles title. The 37-year-old 10th seed faced off against 83-ranked Russian Vitalia Diatchenko on Monday during the start of Roland Garros.

Diatchenko won the first series 6-2, but Williams countered back to win the last two sets in two dominant 6-1 and 6-0 performances. 

Williams hasn’t won a trophy since the 2017 Australian Open, before her 13 month maternity leave. She has played just nine matches in 2019, after battling a continuous knee injury that has kept her out of multiple tournaments. Williams has been wearing a knee brace in practices.

Williams will face Kurumi Nara on Thursday. Nara has climbed through the qualifiers in multiple close matches, including a victory (7-5, 5-7, 6-3) against 107-ranked Dalila Jakupovic. Nara is causing a stir inside the tournament this year, upsetting Jakupovic, but is in for a tough matchup this Thursday against veteran champion Williams. 

Ahead of Nara, Williams could face the likes of Bianca Andreescu, the 22nd seed. Williams has nice layout for herself this tournament. If she were to beat Nara and Andreescu, she could possibly face No. 8-seeded Australian national, Ashleigh Barty, who Williams defeated in this competition last year in the second round.

GET NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS TICKETS HERE!

It could get tough for Williams in the quarterfinals, however, as she will most likely face No. 1-seed Naomi Osaka, a young Japanese international. Osaka defeated Williams in last year’s U.S. Open. 

Williams is currently in second for most singles titles (23), just one under Australian legend Margaret Court with 24. 

Williams also recently defended her longtime sponsor Nike, which some female athletes criticized for cutting sponsorship payments around the time of pregnancy.

At just 18 years old, Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu topped three-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 Angelique Kerber for her first tour title over the weekend. After winning seven matches over 12 days, Andreescu became the youngest Indian Wells champion since Serena Williams in 1999.

Bianca Andreescu Addresses indian wells Performance

“It’s definitely a blur right now,” Andreescu said on the WTA Insider Podcast. “I didn’t get a chance to soak anything in yet. But it’s incredible what I have accomplished this whole entire week –  two weeks! I’ve never played a tournament this long before. Being able to compete in front of such an amazing crowd at this incredible tournament, it’s definitely the Fifth Slam. And being able to play against top-level players, it really is a dream come true.”

Though most Canadians couldn’t watch the young rising star on television, that didn’t stop them from heaping praise on her.

“Bianca Andreescu just made history. Congratulations,” Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, posted on Twitter.

While she was ranked No. 60 before the tournament, Andreescu is now at No. 24. She also more than quadrupled her career prize money, earning $1,354,010 for her victory.

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

Following the tournament, the WTA Insider podcast sat down with her. Before her win, Andreescu proclaimed that she could win multiple majors and be a World No. 1 at some point. When asked how she stayed focused throughout the last two weeks, she responded: “Yeah, definitely it’s that’s not easy, but I have a good team around me that help me stay grounded and I have amazing parents and friends that do the same. But I really do believe that I deserve to be here and I think I proved that this week. So hopefully a lot of other good things can come in my career.”

Andreescu was then asked if she thought she could win the title when the tournament began. Contrary to what you might think, the 18-year-old didn’t. She said: “No, no, no. Every tournament I go into though, I want to win of course. But no, I really — because in the first round I really I thought I was going to lose that match because I was so shaky from the beginning.”

“But then after I started winning more and more matches I’m like OK I think there’s a really good shot. And like I said I’ve been picturing myself holding this trophy for so long. And everything is paying off and everything is so worth it.”

WTA Insider also asked about her strategy on the court. They were curious how much of her game is improvised versus planned out.

“Well you really never know what your opponent’s gonna bring,” Andreescu said. “But obviously I do have different tactics in the back of my mind. It really depends on who I play, obviously, but my main thing is just changing the rhythm and then see what my opponent does and re-evaluate during the match.”

Serena Williams drew attention to herself when she reacted angrily during her loss to Naomi Osaka in the final of the 2018 US Open in September.

Serena Williams Cartoon Deemed Not Racist

Some thought the 23-time major winner was stealing the shine from a budding young star during her first major title. Others viewed the reaction as a critique of black women and that it slandered Williams with the centuries-old stereotype of the angry black woman.

But a cartoon by artist Mark Knight in Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper last September received much criticism. Knight’s drawing depicted Williams with her mouth wide open, hands in a fist, jumping onto a broken tennis racket and a baby’s pacifier. In the background, a slender blonde woman, meant to be Osaka, is shown next to the umpire who says, “Can you just let her win?” Osaka has a Japenese mother and a Haitian father and does not have blonde hair.

Knight’s cartoon was called a clear example of the stereotypes cast on black women, showing Williams as angry, hulking, and big-mouthed. The Australian Press Council said people complained the cartoon was racist and sexist. Yet, the council ruled that there was no breach of its standards of practice with the cartoon.

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

“Specifically, concern was expressed that the cartoon depicted Ms. Williams with large lips, a broad flat nose, a wild afro-styled ponytail hairstyle different to that worn by Ms. Williams during the match and positioned in an ape-like pose,” the council said in a statement. “The council considered that the cartoon uses exaggeration and absurdity to make its point but accepts the publisher’s claim that it does not depict Ms Williams as an ape, rather showing her as ‘spitting the dummy,’ a non-racist caricature familiar to most Australian readers.”

Spitty the dummy is an Australian phrase for a tantrum.

Knight said he was “very happy” with the ruling. “I will not be changing the way I draw cartoons because I think I’m a very free and fair cartoonist and I accept issues on their merits and draw them as such,” he said.

In a critique of the cartoon, The Washington Post compared the drawing to “dehumanizing Jim Crow caricatures so common in the 19th and 20th centuries.”

Serena Williams has an interesting history at the Australian Open. Her 23rd major title was at the Open two years ago, when she won 6-0, 6-2 in 49 minutes. Success has come often for Williams, so another title isn’t very impressive for her. The fact that she was pregnant while beating out the competition was.

Williams Reaches Australian Open’s Second Round

Now she returns to Australia in hopes of tying Margaret Court for the all-time record of 24 singles titles. Williams currently has the most in the Open era.

Her sister, 38-year-old Venus, was seeded 36th and took on Romania’s No. 25 seed Mihaela Buzarnescu in the first round. Williams had to give it her all to beat Buzarnescu 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.  After the match, Williams said: “It was pretty hairy there. I hope that this tough match will prepare me for the rest of the tournament.” Venus has reached the final round twice in the open. Her most recent appearance came in 2017 when she lost to Serena. Now, she’ll meet Alize Cornet next.

Serena was the 16th seed. She won her first match by defeating unseeded 31-year-old German Tatjana Maria 6-0, 6-2 on Monday, her first victory since her angry rant against umpire Carlos Ramos at last year’s US Open final. Reporters brought up the incident and asked if Williams had prepared after the incident. She replied: “I literally have no comment.”

The American superstar will face Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in the next round. Throughout the match, Williams wore compression socks and said that there were “definitely still concerns” about the threat of deep vein thrombosis. “I have had some issues and they’re not done,” she added. Williams experienced the potentially life-threatening blood clots after giving birth to daughter Alexis Olympia.

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

“It’s just something I have to do for pretty much probably the rest of my career, we’ll see. But I’m always at the doctor. With DVTs, it’s very scary. I know a lot of people – they’re very common – have them. Especially for me, it’s incredibly frightening. I lay on the side of precaution as opposed to not.”

The fact that Williams plays on in spite of the condition is a testament to her skill. Bouchard, a former world No. 5, called Williams “the greatest ever.”

Less than one week after the outburst Serena Williams had at the U.S. Open final, the umpire the tennis star got into an argument with is receiving support from dozens of people, although he insists he is “fine.”

U.S. Open Umpire gets Support After Serena Williams Incident

“I’m fine, given the circumstances,’’ Carlos Ramos, the umpire, told Tribuna Expresso in his native Portugal on Tuesday. “It’s a delicate situation, but ‘a la carte’ arbitration does not exist. Do not worry about me!”

Ramos said in the interview that relatives and scores of former and current tennis players and fans have reached out to him for support. The umpire said he stands by his decisions at the U.S. Open final on Saturday, although he did not say more because tennis officials are restricted in terms of how many details they can give about matches.

SLIDESHOW: 30 Best Sports Instagrams! 

Williams had accused Ramos of cheating by stealing a game point from her late in the final against Naomi Osaka, and the umpire ultimately gave her a coaching violation. The incident sparked a major debate about sexism and racism in professional tennis, and many people rushed to either defend or condemn Williams. An Australian cartoonist also drew severe backlash for a caricature that fans and experts called offensive.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion insisted she was fighting for female tennis players to be treated equally to men. Recent reports have said umpires are considering boycotting Williams’ matches and potentially even forming a union.

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

Ramos will reportedly serve as the umpire for this weekend’s Davis Cup match in Croatia, where the country’s men’s national team will play the United States.