NEW YORK (AP) — Serena Williams shouldn’t be able to say goodbye simply but. Nor, clearly, are her followers.

In her first match at what is predicted to be the final U.S. Open — and final event — of her outstanding enjoying profession, Williams overcame a shaky begin to overwhelm Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-Three on Monday evening in a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium with an environment extra akin to a competition than a farewell.

Looking forward to a future with out tennis competitors, Williams advised the group: “There’s different chapters in life.”

Early, Williams was not at her finest. Perhaps it was the importance of the second. There have been double-faults. Different missed strokes, missed alternatives. She went up 2-0, however then rapidly trailed 3-2. Then, immediately, Williams, lower than a month from turning 41, appeared much more like somebody with six championships at Flushing Meadows and 23 Grand Slam titles in all — numbers by no means exceeded by anybody within the skilled period of tennis, which started in 1968.

She rolled by means of the tip of that opening set, capping it with a service winner she reacted to with clenched fists and her trademark cry of “Come on!” The greater than 23,000 within the stands (hundreds of others watched on a video display outdoors Ashe) rose for a raucous standing ovation — and did so once more when the 1-hour, 40-minute contest was over, celebrating as if one other trophy had been earned.

As a substitute, there’s a lot extra work to be finished. Williams will play within the second spherical of singles on Wednesday towards No. 2 seed Anett Kontveit of Estonia on Wednesday. And there’s additionally doubles to return, too: Williams and her sister, Venus, are entered collectively in that competitors, with their preliminary match slated for Wednesday or Thursday.

“Simply maintain supporting me,” Williams stated, “so long as I’m right here.”

There could be little question, the parents so enthusiastically backing Williams on Monday will come once more to the U.S. Open from far and extensive for Serena — no final identify required, befitting somebody as a lot an icon as celebrity athlete — wanting to see her play or, if not fortunate sufficient to carry the appropriate ticket, hoping for an autograph, a look at her working towards or merely the prospect to breathe the identical Flushing Meadows air as her.

They have been there to honor her and present appreciation for what she’s finished on the courtroom and off. After watching the victory over Kovinic, spectators held up blue, white or purple placards that have been distributed at their seats to spell out “We (Coronary heart) Serena.”

After Kovinic was launched just by identify, making clear to even her what an afterthought she was on this muggy night, Williams’ entrance was preceded by a tribute video narrated by Queen Latifah, who known as the American the “Queen of Queens.” The world announcer known as Williams “the best of all time,” and intoned: “This U.S. Open marks the ultimate chapter of her storied tennis historical past.”

Whereas Williams didn’t precisely declare that the U.S. Open definitively could be her final hurrah, she has made it sound as if it is going to be.

So this opening outing turned an occasion with a capital “E.”

Spike Lee participated within the pre-match coin toss. Former President Invoice Clinton was within the stands. So have been Mike Tyson and Martina Navratilova, sitting subsequent to one another.

When Williams made the brief stroll to the follow courts beside Ashe Stadium for a half-hour hitting session to heat up earlier than Monday’s match, individuals packing the bleachers above the follow space greeted her with shrieks of “Serenaaaaa!” on her method in, and once more yelled on her method out, receiving a wave of her racket as acknowledgment earlier than Williams strode, lips pursed, again into the stadium.

She means rather a lot to lots of people. As a tennis participant. As a girl. As an African American. As a mom. As a businesswoman.

“When she began out, feminine athletes weren’t getting acknowledged. She’s finished a lot,” stated Quintella Thorn, a 68-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, making her eighth journey to the U.S. Open. “And now, she’s …”

“Evolving,” chimed in Thorn’s buddy, Cora Monroe, 72, of Shreveport, Louisiana, which she famous is the place Richard Williams — the daddy of Serena and sister Venus, and the central determine within the Oscar-winning movie “King Richard” — is from, too.

That phrase, “evolving,” is the one Williams stated she most well-liked to the extra generally used “retirement” when she wrote in an essay for Vogue launched about three weeks in the past that she was prepared to focus on having a second little one and her enterprise capital agency.

Her daughter, Olympia, who turns 5 on Thursday, wore white beads in her hair whereas sitting together with her father and grandmother within the stands on Monday, a nod to her mother’s coiffure when she received her first U.S. Open in 1999 at age 17.

“As soon as Serena introduced she would play the U.S. Open, we offered out in a nanosecond for Monday evening and Tuesday evening. You’ll be able to see on the secondary market, the get-in worth is $230. I noticed $5,800 for a courtside seat this night. Look, this can be a historic second for the Williams household, for Serena and our sport,” stated Stacey Allaster, the event director of the American Grand Slam occasion. “It’s so tough to essentially seize what Serena and Venus have finished for the game of tennis. They’ve reworked our sport. They’ve made us extra inclusive. They usually’ve transcended sports activities.”

Which is why Monday mattered greater than the same old Day 1 at a significant event. And why the every day program didn’t make point out of some other of the handfuls of athletes in motion, displaying as an alternative a montage of six pictures of Williams holding her six U.S. Open trophies above the title: “Serena Williams, A Legacy of Greatness.” And why there was a way of much less significance for matches involving wins for different elite gamers reminiscent of previous U.S. Open champions Bianca Andreescu, Andy Murray and Daniil Medvedev, or French Open finalist Coco Gauff, an 18-year-old American.

Kriti Kamath, a 9-year-old from Boston, toted an outsized yellow tennis ball in hopes of gathering some signatures — even perhaps after Williams’ deliberate pre-match hitting session within the night, earlier than her contest — as she walked outdoors Ashe together with her mom, Neethor Shenoy.

Shenoy has advised her daughter, who performs tennis, about Williams’ significance.

“She’s very motivated. She’s very pushed. And she or he’s an inspiration to all girls; all coloured girls, significantly,” Shenoy stated. “She’s giving a youngsters a optimistic path to observe.”

Mother stated she’s been touring from Boston to New York for the U.S. Open since 2004; this was Kriti’s first day of competitors, however they have been on web site earlier within the week for “Fan Week.” The U.S. Tennis Affiliation stated greater than 90,000 free on-line passes have been downloaded for that run-up to the main-draw motion, a rise of greater than 35% from the final pre-pandemic event in 2019.

The USTA stated it offered greater than 16,500 tickets for the event on the day Williams revealed her intentions, greater than within the earlier seven days mixed. That included greater than 4,600 for Monday evening alone, making it a sellout.

Monroe and Thorn stated that they had tickets for each the daytime and nighttime classes, that are offered individually, for every of the event’s preliminary three days.

On Monday, each have been carrying blue T-shirts: Monroe’s was emblazoned with “Serena” 4 occasions in several shades of purple; Thorn’s carried a black-and-white picture of Williams beside the phrases “Best Feminine Athlete” — with “Feminine” crossed out.

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Extra AP protection of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports