At her best, Serena Williams is maybe the greatest ever to pick up a tennis racket. At her worst, she’s a legend we aren’t quite ready to admit is done winning — a walking monument many believe still has the potential to squeeze out one last Grand Slam victory to tie Margaret Court for the most all-time.
That’s how she’ll go out in her final tournament at the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 29. Williams’ odds to win are longer than 11 women and tied with two others — +2000 at Tipico Sportsbook — but no one in the field inspires more confidence in their ability to overcome the odds.
That may be why it’s so hard for Williams herself to accept retirement. In her announcement in a Vogue article, she avoided the word altogether, calling this her “evolution” away from the game of tennis.
“There is no happiness in this topic for me. I know it’s not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain. It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine,” Williams said.
U.S. Open Women’s Singles Odds
+220: Iga Swiatek
+600: Naomi Osaka
+1200: Simona Halep, Coco Gauff
+1300: Ons Jabeur, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina
+1500: Anett Kontaveit, Maria Sakkari, Bianca Andreescu, Paula Badosa
+2000: Serena Williams, Leylah Fernandez, Emma Raducanu
Since her last Grand Slam win, a triumph at the 2017 Australian Open while two months pregnant, Williams has competed in 14 Grand Slams including four finals. But in her recovery from injuries and complications from pregnancy, she never fully regained her championship form. Lately, glimpses of her former self have been fewer and farther in between.
Williams was eliminated in the first round of Wimbledon in June, her first tournament since withdrawing in the first round of Wimbledon the previous year with a hamstring injury. However, the last time she was healthy, Williams reached the quarterfinals of the 2021 French Open and the semis of the Australian Open earlier that year.
If Williams is to go out on top at the U.S. Open — the tournament she won her first career Grand Slam back in 1999 — those are the performances fans will lean on for hope. She isn’t far removed from that. Besides, it wouldn’t be smart to doubt the will of a G.O.A.T.
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