New York, USA, 4 September 2022 | Matt Trollope
There were plenty of firsts for Ajla Tomljanovic on Friday night at the US Open.
In her first appearance at Arthur Ashe Stadium, she faced Serena Williams for the first time, and defeated the 23-time Grand Slam champion to reach the second week in New York for the first time.
More notably, Tomljanovic defeated Williams – in a three-hour epic, no less – in what was most likely the American legend’s last professional match of her glittering 25-year professional career.
READ MORE: Tomljanovic rises to end Serena’s US Open campaign
Tennis.com.au sat down with the Australian No.1 to get her perspective on an unforgettable night of tennis at Flushing Meadows.
Tennis.com.au: You said on your Instagram story that you were manifesting this match-up, after your earlier comment about lying in bed, envisioning a match with Serena. Were you genuinely looking forward to this? And do you think that kind of ‘destiny’ had any impact on the result?
Ajla Tomljanovic: “I’ve been really into this manifesting thing. Like, I want to embrace it in all aspects of my life. And I was actually just day-dreaming in bed, one day before the tournament started, and thought about playing Serena…”
But, what was it about that thought?
“OK, I didn’t want to say this before I played her, but it was about me winning (smiling). But it was more just about having an epic experience, and a crazy great match that went like 7-6 in the third. But it was nothing more than that; I didn’t even look at the draw, so I didn’t know. But yeah, I think the angels did their little thing, and it happened.” (smiling)
Did you see Anett Kontaveit’s press conference, when she broke down in tears and had to cut it short after losing to Serena in the second round?
“I heard about it, and then I googled it. I thought, OK, whatever I think, how it will be, it will be probably worse. You cannot think, oh, what’s it gonna feel like when you double fault, or when you miss the first serve and you hear them (the crowd)? It actually does get to you. So after seeing her press conference, and just reading about it, I just tried to get as prepared as I could, for the worst. And I thought from the first moment I stepped on court, I stayed in my little bubble, I didn’t really look around, the whole thing (the Serena video tribute) that was happening before, I wasn’t aware.”
You had headphones on, didn’t you?
“Yeah,…
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