Tomorrow is the first day of the last grand slam of the year. The prestigious US Open and its iconic Arthur Ashe Stadium will host one of the greatest athletes to ever grace the game. Perhaps for the last time or who knows, to set up a fairy tale finish that might conclude in the same stadium, a couple of weeks later. Whatever the result, it is time to doff our hats and acknowledge that one of the finest of the game is about to bow out.
No prizes for guessing, the athlete in question is Serena Williams, the 23 times Grand Slam champion. Serena shocked the sporting world earlier this month by announcing her surprise retirement. True to her maverick style, Serena termed the process as ‘evolving away from tennis’ instead of the old, drab ‘retirement’ that most athletes prefer.
“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. 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.” said Serena.
Read more: Former world No. 1 Serena Williams drops a bomb, announces her retirement
Women’s tennis has seen numerous giants. From Althea Gibson to Steffi Graf to Martina Navratilova, there have been plenty that showed extraordinary dexterity and climbed new highs.
However, none came close to the sheer dominance that Serena exhibited in her prime. Serena in her full flow whisked opponents effortlessly with her brute power, commanded fear in their hearts and most of all, played with an unbeatable tennis IQ that most purists desire so desperately in modern tennis players.
Moreover, the emergence of the Williams sisters marked a change in the landscape of tennis. It is not as if children of colour had a dearth of examples to look up to but there was something different about Serena and Venus that transcended the man-made ideas of race and ethnicity.
People often talk about characters in tennis and how it makes the game fascinating. Serena epitomised what it meant to be a character. She took the centre stage of the play, made it her own canvas, and painted performances that even the most gifted ones would not have been able to conjure. She made women’s tennis cool.
Tennis can be a tad aristocratic at times. Not everyone has to be the perfect human being on the court. It is a competition and often situations get the better of players, especially when someone wears their emotions on their sleeve like Serena.
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Whether it be the 2018 US Open outburst at the referee or the repeated smashing of the racket against Kim Clijsters at the US Open semi-final in 2009, it all showed that besides a champion, Serena was a complicated human being with her rough edges and sharp sides, making her all the more human.
Often the role models in the sporting world are expected to model a god-like behaviour. For one, it is a very archaic notion that needs to be let go by the spectators and fans. Second, it is not a method to gauge the greatness of a player or in this case, belittle that of Serena.
Geniuses are often complicated but mavericks? They play to the gallery, they play to the rupture of the crowd, they play for their emotions and they play to win. And sometimes, their audacity gives them the tag of a flawed genius. Safe to say, Serena was one.
And if this tournament is the final hurrah of this genius, we ought to be glad that we got to witness her true human side, on and off the court. Her essay in the tennis world will forever be remembered and continue to inspire future generations, which perhaps is the biggest legacy of her career.
(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.)
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