Serena Williams’ legendary tennis career likely over after third-round singles’ play loss at US Open
US Open: Serena Williams’s legendary tennis career likely over after third-round singles’ play loss at US Open by Sarah Warbelow
3rd April, 2017
Serena Williams’ legendary tennis career may come to an abrupt end, after her defeat against Madison Keys at the third round of the US Open. Williams was trailing Keys 0:4 at the end of the third game and appeared in danger of losing the match, as the former world number one was serving a volley return for the game’s first time. The American star would eventually be beaten by her opponent, but it was Williams’ latest poor performance at the US Open that looks to have finished her tennis career in a nutshell.
The 33-year-old former world number one appeared to have found her rhythm during the first set in a match that lasted five hours and 40 minutes and produced two breaks-of-the-sets in the first, second and fifth games. There were also two breaks in the key second game of the set to leave Williams two games away from winning the match.
The first of these breaks came in the fourth game of the first set, which saw Williams leave her backhand down on the baseline as she tried to return a shot with her right forehand in a key position. Williams seemed to be at her best for this game and her forehand went under the baseline again in the fifth game of the first set.
Williams’ struggles continued when she faced Keys in the second set and was just seven points away from losing the entire match. Despite this, Williams would have been happy with a game victory to go at 1-6 down in the second game of the set and with a 4-3 lead over the American star, whose game seemed to be playing more fluidly.
Williams’ final chance to win the match came when she forced Keys into an error on a return and she would then hold her serve to win the game and set the match.
The third set was a struggle for the world number one as she made several errors on a return, leaving her at four games to two down. After being forced into a double fault, Williams held firm and