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      Wu Yibing’s US Open Run Could Influence Tennis in China

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      Wu Yibing became the first Chinese man to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since 1946. He says it’s his “responsibility” to pick up where the retired champion Li Na left off in growing the game.Follow live as Serena Williams plays Ajla Tomljanovic at the U.S. Open.Shortly after Wu Yibing made tennis history on Wednesday by becoming the first Chinese man to reach the third round of the U.S. Open, a tournament that dates to 1881, he was informed that his name was on fire on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat.Fans and admirers in China were spreading the word that Wu, a past U.S. Open junior champion, had just beaten Nuno Borges of Portugal in a tough five-set match that lasted nearly four hours. Not only was Wu the first Chinese man to advance into the third round at the U.S. Open, he became the first to reach the third round of a Grand Slam event since Kho Sin-Khie, an Indonesian-born player who competed under the Chinese flag, did it at Wimbledon in 1946.As a groundbreaking player with aspirations to elevate men’s tennis in China, just as the retired two-time major champion Li Na did for Chinese women, Wu, 22, was asked what that kind of social media attention back home meant to him.“That I’m a good-looking guy,” he quipped, eliciting uproarious laughter from reporters at a late-night news conference.That may be true, but Wu has other talents that could help make him one of the most influential players in the game. Primarily, he is very good at tennis, with a complete arsenal of shots and the court savvy to squeeze the best out of his ability. And his answer to that question illustrated he has an engaging personality that could also help draw others into his orbit.Serena Williams at the U.S. OpenThe U.S. Open was very likely the tennis star’s last professional tournament after a long career of breaking boundaries and obliterating expectations.Glorious Goodbye: Even as Serena Williams faced career point, she put on a gutsy display of the power and resilience that have kept fans cheering for nearly 30 years.The Magic Ends: Zoom into this composite photo to see details of Williams’s final moment on Ashe Stadium at this U.S. Open.Her Fans: We asked readers to share their memories of watching Williams play and the emotions that she stirred. There was no shortage of submissions.Sisterhood on the Court: Since Williams and her sister Venus burst onto the tennis scene in the 1990s, their legacies have been tied to each other’s.“He is very outgoing and loves to joke around,” said Gerardo Azcurra, his coach. “He is not afraid to talk.”Wu, playing a shot in Monday’s first round at the U.S. Open, trained at the I.M.G. Academy in Florida.Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesBut as much as Wu enjoys kidding around, he also understands his place in the game. He knows he is in a position to influence the way an entire sport is perceived by millions of people in China, and how fast it can grow. Along with his friends Zhang Zhizhen, 25, and the 17-year-old rising star Shang Juncheng, he is part of the core of China’s emerging men’s tennis hopes to not only to play well on tour, but to develop the game back home.“I have the responsibility to do it, and with my ability, it will always be part of my career,” Wu said. “I think it can really help kids to love tennis, to pay attention to the sport. Before Li Na, we did not have many tennis facilities in China. But then it got more popular and hopefully I can bring even more tennis to China.”Wu began playing as a young boy in Hangzhou, China. His father, Wu Kang, was an amateur boxer and felt his son needed to get more physically fit. Wu initially tried badminton, but the net was too high and he could not get the shuttlecock over it. So, he settled on tennis, where the nets are lower and the aspirations higher.Within a few years, Wu was winning local tournaments and then regional ones. By the time he was 16, he was competing internationally.He first drew the attention of broad swathes of Chinese tennis fans when he won the U.S. Open junior tournament in 2017, in both singles and doubles. It was a breakthrough that earned him an invitation to train at the I.M.G. Academy in Bradenton, Fla., to work on his game and learn English — which he did extremely well. It was also where he first met Azcurra.Azcurra left I.M.G. three years ago to coach privately, and Wu asked in January if they could reunite. Wu moved into Azcurra’s house in Bradenton and they have formed a productive relationship, with Wu winning four lower-level tournaments this year.“He has had some little injuries, some illness,” Azcurra said, “but every time he comes back stronger. He injured his ankle, came back and won a Futures tournament. He got sick, but came back and won a Challenger.”Wu, Zhang Zhizhen, pictured, and the 17-year-old rising star Shang Juncheng are part of the core of China’s emerging men’s tennis hopes.Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports, via ReutersOn Friday, the stakes will grow exponentially when Wu plays Daniil Medvedev of Russia, the No. 1 seed and defending champion, in Arthur Ashe Stadium. It will be the biggest match that Wu, ranked No. 174, has ever played. In a dizzying few months with Azcurra, he has gone from the outskirts of the tennis tour to its largest stadium.In April, Wu was ranked 1,738th and playing in Orange Park, Fla. In July he was playing a Challenger event (a minor league tournament) in Rome, Ga. But he did well enough to earn a chance to qualify for the U.S. Open, which he did, and now he will face the top player in the world under the lights in Ashe.Wu shrugged when asked how daunting the challenge will be against Medvedev.“All tennis players watch his matches, we know how good he is,” Wu said during an interview Thursday afternoon. “I respect him, but when we are on the court, we are opponents competing against each other. None of the rankings matter. I want to show that I’m not scared or whatever. It’s just a match.”Presumably, many people in China will be paying attention to how Wu fares, both on the court and on social media. He has a Weibo account, but Li Xi, his agent, jokes that he has only about 150,000 followers, a relatively small number in a country as populous as China.“You need to post more,” she said with a laugh.“That’s not my job,” he responded.His job is to play tennis, win matches and give the occasional interview. So, when a reporter asked if there was anything else he would like to add, Wu smiled.“That’s enough,” he said. “I’ve already given you a lot of information.” More

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      All Eyes Are on Serena, but What Are Venus’s Plans?

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      Since Serena Williams announced in August that she plans to retire after this year’s U.S. Open, all eyes have been on her and what has turned into her farewell tour. But what’s next for Venus Williams is unclear.Venus Williams, who at 42 is about 15 months older than Serena Williams, has been vague about her plans for her future. Before this year’s U.S. Open, which she was able to enter after receiving wild cards for both the singles and the doubles draw, it had been some time since Venus Williams had played in a Grand Slam.After losing in the second round of Wimbledon to Ons Jabeur of Tunisia last year, Williams played one match in the WTA’s Chicago Women’s Open in August 2021, losing in the first round, and then left tennis for nearly a year.She returned to the sport last month, and struggled in three tournaments, losing in the first rounds of the Citi Open in Washington, the National Bank Open in Toronto, and the Western & Southern Open in Mason, Ohio.“It was definitely the longest time I have been away from tennis and been without a racket in my hand,” she said after she lost to Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium in straight sets in the first round of the singles draw on Tuesday. “It was a completely new experience for me, getting a racket back in my hand and trying to acclimate as quick as possible to be ready for the U.S. Open, which was not easy.”Williams last played in a Grand Slam final at the Australian Open in 2017, where she lost to her sister, and last won a Grand Slam title in 2008 at Wimbledon, where she beat her sister. Her time away from tennis and the winner’s stage has left Williams ranked at No. 1,504 in the world. In 2002, she was ranked No. 1 in singles. Her low ranking means that to continue to play in tournaments, Williams will need to rely heavily on wild cards.At her postmatch news conference on Tuesday, Williams was asked about whether she also had any plans to retire like her sister.“Right now I’m just focused on the doubles,” she said.When the Williams sisters walked off the court in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday night after losing their first-round doubles match to Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, it could have been the last time the sisters left a court together. Or was it?The sisters did not have a postmatch news conference, but when asked on Tuesday what keeps her motivated, Williams was short and quick to reply.“Three letters is W-I-N,” she said. “That’s it. Very simple.”Since Serena Williams announced in a Vogue cover story that she planned to evolve “away from tennis, toward other things that are important,” she has sprinkled some uncertainty about her own retirement plans.“I’ve been pretty vague about it, right?” Serena Williams said, smiling after her first-round win against Danka Kovinic. “I’m going to stay vague because you never know.” More

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      Venus and Serena William Lose First Round Doubles Match at US Open

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      What was supposed to be a prime time, packed-house celebration of the Williams sisters at the U.S. Open turned into something rather less festive than planned on Thursday night.The rain cloud was the Czech doubles team of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova, who unlike Venus and Serena Williams have not won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together.In fact the 37-year-old Hradecka and the 17-year-old Noskova had never played a pro tournament together before until walking out into the cavernous confines of Arthur Ashe Stadium for their first-round match against Team Williams.But experience did not prove decisive as the Czechs, who clicked quickly, prevailed in a tight first set and then closed out their 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory and likely put a downbeat end to the Williamses’ phenomenal career as a team at this level.Exhibition tours and even comebacks may await, but this certainly felt like the end of an era for one of the greatest doubles teams in the game’s history. It came quickly after the Williamses had succeeded in rallying from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to get back to 4-4. And it came in an atmosphere that was comparatively subdued despite the sellout crowd of nearly 24,000: quite a contrast with the rock festival atmosphere at Serena Williams’s night singles matches in this year’s tournament as she has made a stirring run to the third round in her farewell U.S. Open.Serena Williams at the U.S. OpenThe U.S. Open could be the tennis star’s last professional tournament after a long career of breaking boundaries and obliterating expectations.A Magical Run: As her successes on the field prove, Serena Williams did not come to New York to receive a ceremonial send-off, but to put her best on the line against the world’s finest players.In the Player’s Box: Fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium have been catching glimpses of her family and entourage. Here is a look at who has been in attendance to support her.Her Fans: We asked readers to share their memories of watching Williams play and the emotions that she stirred. There was no shortage of submissions.Sisterhood on the Field: Since Williams and her sister Venus burst onto the tennis scene in the 1990s, their legacies have been tied to one another.But though Serena Williams was often effective and decisive on Thursday night, she could not hold serve to keep the sisters in the match at 4-5. At 15-40, Hradecka poached and knocked away a backhand volley winner to close out the victory, and the sisters were soon packing up in a hurry and exiting the court without an on-court interview (or signing autographs despite all the souvenir balls being extended in their direction as they headed for the tunnel).Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova had never played together in a pro tournament before but managed to win.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesThe Czechs ended up with the floor and the interview with ESPN analyst Mary Joe Fernandez.“I’m still in shock that we won because played the first time with each other,” Hradecka said, addressing the crowd, which seemed rather stunned as well. “I think we did a very good job, and I’m so sorry for you that we beat them, but we are so happy we did it.”Though the evening did not deliver the anticipated enchantment (unless you were Czech), it was not entirely bereft of pomp and circumstance. Before the sisters took the court, a video tribute was played on the big screens inside the stadium, showing footage of them through the decades. But there was no post-match ceremony planned, win or lose, and the sisters did not look much in the mood for public speaking after their straight-sets defeat and even declined to give a news conference, which has not been unusual for them in 2022.If this was indeed the last time the fabulous Williams sisters share the same court in an official match, it was surely not the way they, or just about anybody else, envisaged it. Their careers have been so routinely cinematic, full of surprise twists and revivals, that a straightforward opening-round defeat seems out of place in the story arc.But pro tennis is a sport, not scripted drama, and the anticlimax takes nothing away from their collective achievements. The Williams sisters were quality over quantity. They rarely played together on tour, restricting most of their appearances to the majors and the Olympics. But their strike rate was phenomenal, particularly when they reached a championship match.They were 14-0 in Grand Slam women’s doubles finals and 3-0 in Olympic gold-medal matches together. That is a statistic that will be noted (and tweeted) for years to come, and though it was a downer of a finish, it was still a fitting, full-circle place to finish.The Williamses played in Ashe Stadium the year that it opened in 1997, with Venus reaching the singles final as an unseeded 17-year-old and 15-year-old Serena making her Grand Slam debut in doubles with Venus. They had white beads in their hair and braces on their teeth, and though they were dynamic and exuberant, they were beaten in the first round by Jill Hetherington and Kathy Rinaldi, who would later coach both sisters as the captain for the United States’ team in the Billie Jean King Cup.There was a video tribute played on the stadium big screens before the match, but no post-match ceremony.Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times“They’re both such different personalities but they’re both just such tremendous champions,” said Rinaldi, who was back in Ashe Stadium on Thursday night.The sisters went on to win two U.S. Open titles together but had not played together at a major since the 2018 French Open. But at Serena’s request, they put the band back together in New York. Serena, who turns 41 this month, has announced her intention to “evolve away” from tennis sometime after the U.S. Open, while Venus, 42, has remained cryptic about her own retirement and evolutionary plans.“I can’t speak for Venus or what exactly her plans are,” said Eric Hechtman, who coaches both Williams sisters. “But you know they are both strong women and both doing it their way. Serena, with the Vogue article, did it on her terms and in her fashion, and whenever Venus decides she’s not going to play tennis anymore, she’ll do it her way. People might say in their minds she got lost in the shuffle here, but whatever way she does it is the way she wants to do it. They are different people with different objectives, both staying true to who they are.”The U.S. Open organizers did not hesitate to capitalize on the moment, opening a night session with a doubles match for the first time since Sept. 3, 2012, when the Williams sisters faced Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko in a third-round match.Perhaps it was foreshadowing that the sisters lost that one in straight sets, too, and with Venus’s elimination in the first round of singles, there is only one Williams left in this U.S. Open. Serena will be back on Ashe Stadium for a night session on Friday night to face the unseeded Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, who joked that she was planning on bringing earplugs to block out the roars.No such measures would have been necessary on Thursday. Rarely have so many U.S. Open fans been so quiet after sundown. More

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      No Handshake After Ukrainian loses to Belarusian at U.S. Open

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      The bitterness and acrimony from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spilled onto the tennis courts of the U.S. Open again Thursday as Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.Kostyuk, who has been outspoken in her belief that players from Russia and Belarus should be barred from the sport, refused to shake Azarenka’s hand after her defeat, opting only to tap rackets with Azarenka when it was over.In April, Kostyuk and several other players from Ukraine called for ruling organizations of tennis to ask players from Russia and Belarus if they supported the war and to denounce it if they did not. In the absence of declarations against the war, Kostyuk and the other Ukrainian players said the players from Russia and Belarus should be barred from any international event.“There comes a time when silence is betrayal, and that time is now,” the statement from the players said.Speaking with journalists at a news conference after the match, Kostyuk explained that she had no interest in shaking hands with players who had not spoken out publicly against the brutality of the war. She also criticized players from Russia and Belarus for not reaching out to players from Ukraine, several of whom have not been able to go home since Russia invaded their country in February.Serena Williams at the U.S. OpenThe U.S. Open could be the tennis star’s last professional tournament after a long career of breaking boundaries and obliterating expectations.A Magical Run: As her successes on the field prove, Serena Williams did not come to New York to receive a ceremonial send-off, but to put her best on the line against the world’s finest players.In the Player’s Box: Fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium have been catching glimpses of her family and entourage. Here is a look at who has been in attendance to support her.Her Fans: We asked readers to share their memories of watching Williams play and the emotions that she stirred. There was no shortage of submissions.Sisterhood on the Field: Since Williams and her sister Venus burst onto the tennis scene in the 1990s, their legacies have been tied to one another.Kostyuk texted Azarenka before the match to tell her she would not be shaking her hand after the match, but the two did not speak beforehand.It was the second time in two weeks that Kostyuk went after Azarenka, who in years past made multiple appearances with President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. Last week, Kostyuk pushed officials from the United States Tennis Association to prohibit Azarenka from participating in an exhibition to benefit relief efforts in Ukraine. On Thursday, she defended those actions, saying it would have been akin to having a German attend a benefit for European Jews during World War II.Azarenka had planned to participate in the benefit until Kostyuk and other players from Ukraine protested.Shortly after Kostyuk spoke Thursday, Azarenka held her own news conference and defended her actions. She said she had reached out to players from Ukraine but had sent the messages through intermediaries with the WTA Tour, which she helps run as a member of its Players’ Council.“I’ve had a very clear message from the beginning, that I’m here to try to help, which I have done a lot,” Azarenka said. “Maybe not something that people see. And that’s not what I do it for. I do it for people who are in need, juniors who need clothes, other people who need money or other people who needed transportation or whatever. That’s what is important to me, to help people who are in need.”Azarenka said if Kostyuk wanted to speak with her, she was “open any time to listen, to try to understand, to sympathize.” She added, “I believe that empathy in the moment like this is really important.”Tensions among players from the warring countries have been mounting for months.Iga Swiatek of Poland, the world No. 1, who has held her own fund-raiser for relief efforts in Ukraine and who has condemned the invasion, said the sport’s leaders missed an opportunity to manage those tensions when the war first broke out.“Right now, it’s kind of too late, I think, to fix that,” Swiatek said Thursday. “Right now, it’s easy to say that maybe there was lack of leadership, but at that time I didn’t know what to do either.” More

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      How Do Doubles Teams Partner Up?

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      For some players, finding a doubles partner is easy — just ask a friend. (Or in the case of Serena and Venus Williams, a sibling.)That’s been the case for the Aussies, Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis, known as the Special Ks. The duo are close friends who have been playing doubles together since they were boys.Together they won the doubles boys final at Wimbledon in 2013, and since then, they’ve won a number of doubles titles together, including at this year’s Australian Open and the Atlanta Open.Other players, however, have to go out on limb to find a partner. In some cases, that might mean taking publicly to social media or sliding into the DMs.Before Wimbledon this year, Coco Gauff, 18-year-old American, took to Twitter to search for a partner for the mixed doubles draw.Serena Williams at the U.S. OpenThe U.S. Open could be the tennis star’s last professional tournament after a long career of breaking boundaries and obliterating expectations.A Magical Run: As her successes on the field prove, Serena Williams did not come to New York to receive a ceremonial send-off, but to put her best on the line against the world’s finest players.In the Player’s Box: Fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium have been catching glimpses of her family and entourage. Here is a look at who has been in attendance to support her.Her Fans: We asked readers to share their memories of watching Williams play and the emotions that she stirred. There was no shortage of submissions.Sisterhood on the Field: Since Williams and her sister Venus burst onto the tennis scene in the 1990s, their legacies have been tied to one another.“Who wants to play mixed at wimby,” Gauff said in tweet.Jack Sock, the 29-year-old American, responded to Gauff’s post, and said, “We’d be a decent team.”The two advanced to the semifinals before losing in three sets.Others have had even more luck on social media. Before the French Open this year, Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands sent a direct message to Ena Shibahara of Japan to ask if she’d be interested in playing mixed doubles. The two had never met before, but they went on to win the title.Bethanie Mattek-Sands, an American professional tennis player who was formerly No. 1 in doubles, said she has played with a lot of friends throughout her career. “I feel like that makes doubles that much more fun, you’re out there with a buddy and then you just figure out what your strengths are as a team and go from there,” she said.But overall, finding a doubles partner “can be pretty random,” Mattek-Sands said. “You can talk to a friend, send a text and just be like, ‘Hey, do you have a partner for this tournament, that tournament?”How long a team stays together really varies, Mattek-Sands said: Some players prefer to play with the same person all year because they can compete as a team in the year-end championships. Others like to play for clay-court season or the hardcourt season. Sometimes a match up is just a one off.Some players just look at the rankings of other players, but “most of the time it’s friends texting friends or coaches texting other coaches to see if their player already has a partner,” Mattek-Sands said.Before this year, it’s been a while since either of the Williams sisters have played doubles. Venus Williams lasted played at the French Open last year with Gauff. And before this year, Serena Williams last played doubles a tournament in New Zealand in 2020 with Caroline Wozniacki.To play in this year’s women’s doubles draw, the Williams sisters were awarded a wild card from the U.S. Open.The Williams sisters won the U.S. Open doubles tournament together in 1999 and 2009. The sisters have won 14 Grand Slam titles together, most recently at Wimbledon in 2016. They last played doubles at the U.S. Open in 2014, and at any Grand Slam tournament in 2018.“I think you’ll know if Venus and Serena are playing well by how they are serving and then putting the pressure on that second ball,” said Mattek-Sands, who has competed in doubles against the Williams sisters. “We know that they can both hit big serves, but how is their partner at the net handling that? I think if they can put a lot of pressure on the returners, they’re going to be doing really well.” More

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      Serena Williams US Open Tickets demand Keeps Going Up

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      The further Serena Williams advances into the U.S. Open, the more tickets cost to see her.For Williams’s doubles match with her sister Venus on Thursday in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the cheapest seats available for resale on Ticketmaster were well over $340 each in the nosebleeds.Those who want a better view of the Williams sisters will need to pay substantially more. Resale tickets for Thursday in the midlevel of Arthur Ashe were selling for about $1,000 and up as of Thursday, and tickets in the lowest level of the stadium were selling for more than $7,500 each.For Williams’s third round singles match against Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia on Friday night, tickets were north of $500 for the cheapest seats. Tickets in the midlevel of Ashe were selling for about $3,000, and more than $9,000 in the lowest level of the stadium.Williams is having an obvious effect on ticket prices, according to Logitix, a ticketing technology company. Before she won her second-round match against Anett Kontaveit on Wednesday, the cheapest tickets for a Friday night match in Arthur Ashe were $160, then jumped to $450 after Williams won, according to Logitix. Tickets in the midlevel of Ashe before she won were selling for $405, then shot up to $1,530. Courtside tickets were going for $805 before the win and $3,500 after the win.While the final is still more than a week away, with several rounds in between, tickets for the women’s final are also up. Those who looked for tickets to the Sept. 10 final before Williams announced she planned to retire could have found some tickets for about $150. Since Williams has advanced to the third round, the cheapest tickets for the women’s final have now doubled, to about $300 on Ticketmaster. More

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      Serena Williams’s Magical Run at the US Open Isn’t Over Yet

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      The U.S. Open threw the closest thing to a farewell celebration that Serena Williams would allow for her opening-round match Monday night. But if a party was all that the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion wanted, she could have thrown herself one and skipped all those hours of sweat on the hard courts back home in Florida.Williams did not come to New York simply for a ceremonial send-off, to listen to another series of elegies about how she has changed this sport and so much else, how she has broken down barriers and paved the way for the next generation of Black tennis stars and female athletes, and the one after that, too. She knew all of that, better than anyone.There is another legacy that Williams possesses as much as all the others — as one of the world’s great competitors. And she came to New York to compete in a Grand Slam tournament, seemingly her final one, to once more put her best on the line against the finest players in the world on the sport’s biggest stage.She got that and more on Wednesday night as she won, 7-6(4) 2-6, 6-2, outlasting Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, the world’s second-ranked player, an opponent who, like Williams, loves nothing more than blasting tennis balls as she tries to overwhelm whoever is standing on the other side of the net.If that first appearance two nights earlier was about posterity and sweet send-offs, about a former U.S. president and music and movie stars coming out to see and be seen, round two was about doing everything possible to win a tennis match in front of a whole new gallery of boldface names, like Tiger Woods, who sat in Williams’s box, and Zendaya, and some 23,000 other very partial observers at Arthur Ashe Stadium.“There’s still a little left in me,” she said on the court when it was done.“I love a challenge, I love rising to the challenge.”Williams will face the unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia in the third round on Friday, and in this tournament she feels as though she has nothing to lose, after a career of having a target on her back.“I’m having fun, I’m enjoying it,” Williams said.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesNo matter who prevailed, this was never going to be a match with much subtlety. It was a showdown between two players who, when they are on, are among the best ball-strikers in the world, and two players at the opposite ends of the sport.Serena Williams at the U.S. OpenThe U.S. Open could be the tennis star’s last professional tournament after a long career of breaking boundaries and obliterating expectations.A Magical Run: As her successes on the field prove, Serena Williams did not come to New York to receive a ceremonial send-off, but to put her best on the line against the world’s finest players.In the Player’s Box: Fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium have been catching glimpses of her family and entourage. Here is a look at who has been in attendance to support her.Her Fans: We asked readers to share their memories of watching Williams play and the emotions that she stirred. There was no shortage of submissions.Sisterhood on the Field: Since Williams and her sister Venus burst onto the tennis scene in the 1990s, their legacies have been tied to one another.In front of another capacity crowd, one of them, assuming she keeps her word, was playing to extend the greatest career in modern tennis, and to show her daughter, Olympia, just what she is capable of. Olympia was turning 5 on Thursday and showed up to this tournament in the iconic beads her mother wore the first time she began to rule this sport on this same stage.The other was attempting to get one thing that every young player wants — the chance to tell her grandchildren that on a magical night in the biggest stadium in the sport, she beat the greatest player of all time.Ultimately, a battle like that, especially on this court, was going to be better than any tribute video even her friend Spike Lee, the award-winning filmmaker, could make. And he made a pretty good one that welcomed Williams, in her bedazzled shoes and dress and hair and warm-up jacket, onto the court once more. Wouldn’t it?“I’ve grown up watching her win so many Grand Slams,” said Kontaveit, 26. “I always remember how fiercely she competed for every point.”This idea, that Williams could somehow turn what two weeks ago was shaping up to be one ceremonial goodbye match into top-level sport, began to take shape in the last games of her Monday-night win, when she started rolling those patented forehands and surging forward for those patented swinging volleys. Suddenly Danka Kovinic of Montenegro was like so many other overmatched first-round victims during the height of Williams’s powers.But for a few shaky swings early on, Williams essentially picked up where she had left off, reeling off deep forehands that had Kontaveit backpedaling and crushing serves that darted onto the lines.She hustled into the corners to dig out shots with swings of desperation. She brought the sound effects, too, the warrior grunts, screams of “Come on!” and sneakers screeching across the pavement on every pivot and twist.Williams finally notched the first service break in the ninth game, on her sixth break point, sending a crowd that had been revving up all night into its first eruption. But Williams frittered the prosperity and failed to serve out the set.Two games later, the players headed into a tiebreaker that stayed even until Williams grabbed a 5-3 lead as Kontaveit netted a drop shot. A service winner got Williams to set point, and an ace clinched it, sending a roar up through the open rectangle of the Ashe roof.Kontaveit is not known as the steeliest of competitors, especially in the biggest tournaments. She has made the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament just once.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesMaybe everyone in the building wanted her to go away for the night, but Kontaveit was having none of it. Instead she pounced, breaking Williams’s serve three times to send the match to a decisive third set. An awkward murmur rolled around the stadium as Williams headed off the court for a brief bathroom break.For Williams, there was nothing awkward about it all. This sort of competition is what she came for, what she has been doing since she was a little girl, and the thing that makes her so ambivalent about leaving the sport and what she will miss most. She can still hang with the best even after playing just five matches in 14 months entering Wednesday.And that is exactly what she did, and then some. Maybe if Williams and Kontaveit had their last set unfold on some random tennis court in an empty park, things might have gone another way. But it didn’t. Elite competition against a magical backdrop almost never does, and Williams, a star made for the bright lights, probably would not have much use for it if it did.Kontaveit gave her very little, other than a few short serves that Williams jumped on to notch two early service breaks on her way to a 4-1 lead. Williams had to take everything else, her chest and shoulders rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath between points against an opponent who was never going to go away on her own.Serving at 4-2 with a point to win the game after nearly letting Kontaveit draw even, Williams sent a topspin lob that caught the back of the baseline and sent Kontaveit to the back wall, barely able to get her own lob back. Williams met it mid-air in the middle of the court for one more swinging volley winner to get to 5-2. It brought on what would be the second-loudest roar of the night.There was one more big one to come Wednesday, a few actually as she sat on her chair and soaked it all in. It looks like more are on the way.This is what she came for. More

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      Coco Gauff Warms Up the Court for Serena Williams, and Gets a Win

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      A few hours before Serena Williams would walk into Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday night for the second-round match everyone was waiting for, Coco Gauff warmed up the hardcourt with a win.The experience wasn’t lost on Gauff, 18, who has credited Williams for showing her that being a star in professional tennis as a Black woman was possible. She said it was “an honor to open up for her.”The win wasn’t bad either.After Gauff and Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania split the first two games of the first set of Wednesday’s second-round match, Gauff quickly took control.Gauff went on to win the next two games. But while a point away from claiming a third straight game, she double-faulted, and the Gauff-favoring crowd in New York let out a sigh of disappointment, and Gauff muttered quietly to herself in frustration. Gauff responded with back-to-back powerful aces, leaving Ruse frozen and leaning awkwardly as the ball blazed past her like a batter caught off guard by a fastball.The moment reflected one of Gauff’s weaknesses and, at the same token, offered a glimpse of the talent that has many crowning her as the future of American tennis. Gauff went on to win the set and the match over Ruse, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Gauff will take on her American compatriot Madison Keys in the third round. Keys, ranked 20th in women’s singles, defeated Gauff at Adelaide International 2 in January on her way to winning the tournament.Serena Williams at the U.S. OpenThe U.S. Open could be the tennis star’s last professional tournament after a long career of breaking boundaries and obliterating expectations.A Magical Run: As her successes on the field prove, Serena Williams did not come to New York to receive a ceremonial send-off, but to put her best on the line against the world’s finest players.In the Player’s Box: Fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium have been catching glimpses of her family and entourage. Here is a look at who has been in attendance to support her.Her Fans: We asked readers to share their memories of watching Williams play and the emotions that she stirred. There was no shortage of submissions.Sisterhood on the Field: Since Williams and her sister Venus burst onto the tennis scene in the 1990s, their legacies have been tied to one another.“I learned a lot from that match,” Gauff said. “In the beginning of the year I felt like in general I just wasn’t in a good head space and I wasn’t confident in my tennis, but I feel like now I’m really confident in my tennis and I feel like that maybe might change the outcome of the match.”Wednesday’s match was the second between Gauff and Ruse in their careers. They had faced off in June at Wimbledon, where Gauff bested Ruse in three sets.At times, it seemed like Wednesday’s match would need a third set, too. The two were evenly matched early in the second set. Gauff’s shot to win the third game came as she was tracking a ball down the baseline — with her braids flowing behind her — hitting the ball to the opposite side of the court to draw roars from the crowd. The momentum seemed in her favor, but Ruse responded by winning three games to take a 5-3 lead and silence the crowd.Gauff bounced back with a three-game win streak of her own to take a 6-5 lead. With one point away from a win and the crowd on her side, Gauff double-faulted, sending the match to a tiebreaker. After splitting the first four points, Gauff won five of the next seven to win the match. The winning point came from a backhand that was too powerful for Ruse to return. Gauff yelled, threw her fist in excitement and relief, and waved her arms high, igniting the crowd.Gauff said that she would likely have lost a match like Wednesday’s in the past, but she has learned how to respond when her opponents take a lead.“Down love to 30, 5-3, I definitely could have threw it in the can and got ready for the third set,” Gauff said, “same at 15-40, but I didn’t, and I think that shows growth.”The third round is the furthest Gauff has advanced in the U.S. Open. She was ousted in the second round last year and the first round in 2020. The last time Gauff made it this far in the tournament, she was just 15 years old, facing Naomi Osaka, who was then the reigning champion and held the world No. 1 ranking. Osaka defeated Gauff handily in that match, 6-3, 6-0, and Gauff walked back to her bench in tears before Osaka invited her to do the post-match interview with her.“I’m going to learn a lot from this match,” Gauff said then, through tears.At 15, Gauff became a marquee name in tennis after defeating Venus Williams at Wimbledon, when she was competing as the youngest player ever in the women’s main draw. She now has a signature shoe with New Balance, (she sported a luminous pink and green version of it Wednesday) and has a deal with the Italian food brand, Barilla, but she has yet to win a major title.Unlike for Serena Williams’s first-round match Monday, Gauff said she would not be in the stands Wednesday because she would be receiving her post-match medical treatment and had a doubles match Thursday morning, but she would be watching on television in the stadium. “Maybe at the end if it’s not too late I’ll catch the end of it,” Gauff said.“If it goes those three sets I probably won’t be staying to the end, unfortunately. I would love to but that’s the problem when you have to play and when you like tennis as a fan, too.” More