The US Open kicked off yesterday with the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) possibly playing her last game ever and she is being celebrated in fashion. What is being called, Serena William’s “farewell tour”, started with a 6-3 victory over Danka Kovinić in the first round of the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Williams will open doubles play with her sister Venus on Wednesday. Williams will face world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the singles round of 64, also on Wednesday. It will be their first career meeting.
Williams told multiple sources that she will “evolve away from tennis.” “I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people,” Williams said in a Vogue article published earlier this month.
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” she said. At her post-match news conference, she was asked if this is definitely her last tournament. “Yeah, I’ve been pretty vague about it, right?” she said with a smile. “I’m going to stay vague because you never know.” But earlier on the court, Williams, 40, said it was a difficult decision to move on.
“I think when you’re passionate about something and you love something so much, it’s always hard to walk away,” she said. “Sometimes I think it’s hard to walk away than to not. That’s been the case for me.” When asked by Gayle King what winning would be for her in the future, Williams pointed to her venture capital company and said she wants to work on her spiritual life.
Williams’ singles win was witnessed by her husband, Alexis Ohanian, and their daughter, Olympia, with the youngster wearing white beads in her hair, reminiscent of Williams’ look when she won the first of her six US Open titles as a teenager in 1999. 
“I look forward to waking up and just being like, OK, I don’t have to run to the court today,” Williams said. “I look forward to just being a mom. She’s such a good girl. I just want to be a good mom to her.” Olympia was spotted excitedly screaming for her mom and taking pictures of her.
Serena deserves her flowers, we are happy to see her getting them. Will you be tuned in?