NEW YORK — Ajla Tomljanovic‘s first words in her postmatch interview Friday after beating Serena Williams were, “I’m feeling really sorry.”
She spoke just a minute after Williams had walked off the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, for what is likely to be the final time as a pro. Tomljanovic had bested her in a three-hour epic match.
It was one of the biggest victories of her life, but there were no celebrations.
“I love Serena just as much as you do,” Tomljanovic told the crowd, remembering how she’d idolized her growing up. “It’s a surreal moment for me.”
Williams had saved five match points until the sixth one ended her campaign. She had been building at the US Open, after winning her opening two matches against Danka Kovinic and world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit. Against Tomljanovic, she was the favorite — for the first time in a match this tournament. There was a growing feeling that she could do the unthinkable and win the whole thing; the farewell tour was metamorphosing into the most incredible final last dance that only Serena Williams could craft.
But remarkable sports fairy tales are rare. And for every one of those unicorns, there are far more stories of dream narratives being ruined by reluctant protagonists.
“I feel like a villain,” Tomljanovic said afterward.
She’s not the first to feel like that, nor the last. Some of sport’s greatest figures have been unable to finish their careers on a high note and it leaves a lingering impression on those who halted their heroes in the final steps.
Take Larry Holmes when he stopped Muhammad Ali in October 1980. Ali had come out of a yearlong retirement to take the fight with Holmes, but Ali was a shadow of his former self, and Holmes won conclusively with Ali’s trainer Angelo Dundee stopping the fight in the 10th round. Holmes cried in his postfight interview. “When you fight a friend, to me a brother, you can’t get happiness,” Holmes said. “I fought a no-win situation.” Ali would fight one more time, and lose.
There are the other sorts of great sports narratives where one old-timer manages to roll back the years to throw the younger generation off guard, only to fall short. There were those four memorable days at the 2009 Open where 59-year-old Tom Watson just missed out on the Claret Jug as he lost a 1-shot lead on the final day and then fell in a playoff to Stewart Cink.
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