In the end it wasn’t meant to be: Williams’ defeat against Ajla Tomljanovic on Saturday night dashed hopes that the 40-year-old could also win the US Open at the end of her tennis career. A few weeks ago, Williams announced in the fashion magazine “Vogue” that he wanted to turn his back on professional sports. She didn’t say when exactly, because the step filled her “with great pain”. He was the hardest thing she could have imagined.
In addition to her grandiose victories, Williams has had to cope with serious setbacks – she has occupied the Olympus of tennis women with 23 Grand Slam tournaments in singles and 14 in doubles. She let the public participate in some, she spoke openly about her health problems, but also about mental lows. A blood clot in her lungs brought her close to death in 2011, as she said herself. The birth of her daughter Olympia in 2017 was also life-threatening, and later postnatal depression. She made no secret of that either. In an interview with Time magazine, she said: “Some days I cry. I’m really sad, having breakdowns.”
This openness also earned her great respect off the tennis court. Williams was aware of her role as a role model for athletes, blacks and women from an early age.
Against the odds
From the start, Williams’ career was seen as one that defied odds. “Defying the odds” wrote countless media outlets in response to Williams’ forthcoming departure from the tennis court. She was born in a medium-sized town in Michigan, the family moved to Los Angeles, where she turned professional at the age of 14. It was the father who brought the two sisters Venus and Serena to tennis – at a time when the elite, predominantly white and highly traditional sport was still considered an extension of country clubs. Even if it wasn’t in her cradle, Williams defiantly rose to become the greatest tennis player in the world, “GOAT” – “the Greatest of All Times”.
Williams himself doesn’t seem to like the title badly: she wore a sweatshirt with this expression at Milan Fashion Week this year. In this it follows in the tradition of boxing legend Muhammad Ali – he even named one of his companies GOAT Inc.
The barriers shattered
Ali and Williams have a lot in common: They have become symbols. For many fans, it’s not so much Williams’ sporting achievements that matter, but rather her role as a public figure. “As one of the few black women in tennis, a woman with a backstory and a body that didn’t fit the sport’s favored mythology,” she wanted to send a message, according to the New York Times: “She shattered barriers, of color ( in the original: race), age and social class, and she smashed the old tennis dress codes.” She used fashion like an instrument, as a “weapon of change”.
While her unusual outfits were still a game against conformity at the beginning of her sports career, over time they have become statements. If someone didn’t want to understand, Williams also helped out, for example with written messages on the clothing. “Mother, Champion, Queen, Goddess” was written in French in 2019 on her idiosyncratic sports creation, which she wore at the French Open. With her non-conformity, Williams sometimes held up a mirror to tennis, not always without consequences.
Her argument with the French Open the year before, for example, became legendary – Williams had worn a skin-tight body suit, the famous “catsuit”, to the match. Actually, he was supposed to help protect Williams from further blood clots after the difficult birth of her daughter. In addition, she felt “like a superhero, a warrior, the queen of Wakanda,” as she said herself.
For the French Tennis Federation (FFT), however, the appearance was too much, he subsequently tightened the dress code, such an outfit would no longer be tolerated in the future, said FFT Chairman Bernard Giudicelli at the time: “The sport and the court must be respected. Williams’ response to those who wanted more “feminine” attire on the pitch was clear: the next day she played in a tutu.
Tennis and fashion is more than tennis fashion
Williams himself has long since entered the fashion business. In 2018, she joined her sister Venus and launched her own clothing line, both having previously attended the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. Two years later, she brought “S by Serena” to New York Fashion Week, where she had been a permanent fence guest until then. Under the umbrella of her advertising partner Nike, she founded the Serena Williams Design Crew, which promotes young designers.
Her passion for fashion brought her together with the notorious “Vogue” boss Anna Wintour, the two share a close friendship. As early as 1998, three years after the start of her professional career, she and Venus appeared on the cover of the fashion bible for the first time, and it wasn’t to be the only time.
Feminism off the court too
Williams always celebrated her friendships with women publicly, as a wordless statement of solidarity. The best example of this is her connection to Duchess Meghan, who stood by her when misogynous and racially motivated hatred swept over her. Williams was also the first guest on Meghan’s Archetypes podcast. The topic was ambition – and how the character trait is perceived differently in women and men. “Hopefully we can teach girls to keep raising their hands and not be afraid,” Williams said.
In the run-up to the big farewell, Williams, of course, paid tribute to countless companions. Rafael Nadal called her a ‘legend’ while young US tennis player Coco Gauff said: ‘Before Serena came along, there wasn’t an icon of the sport who looked like me. Growing up, I never thought I was different because the world number one was someone who looked like me.”
After she announced her departure after the US Open in “Vogue”, the countdown began, her games were watched even more closely than usual. Even the game against world number two Anett Kontaveit was seen as the last for Williams. Surprisingly, however, the 40-year-old won, once again “against the odds”. Williams advanced again, but the prepared farewell ceremony at Arthur Ashe Stadium was already held. The audience bowed and repeatedly chanted love. She herself was modest: “I’m just Serena.”
Now the departure of the “Queen of Tennis”, as the US Open calls it, is actually imminent. But Williams apparently wants to leave her options open here too. After losing to Tomljanovic she said about a possible return: “I don’t think so, but you never know. I dont know.”
