In what was probably the penultimate tournament of her illustrious career, Williams bowed out of the Western and Southern Open in her first round match with a dismal performance, losing emphatically 6-4, 6-0 to a flawless Emma Raducanu who didn’t put a foot wrong throughout the course. “It feels pretty amazing, to be honest. I can’t believe I just played Serena Williams,” Raducanu said afterward. After an unwelcome one-day delay, Williams and Raducanu finally arrived on Tuesday afternoon with packed crowds lining the grounds and looking out onto the stadium’s field of view to catch a glimpse of the American great ahead of her match. When Williams arrived on the court, the crowd gave her a standing ovation. This was a generational battle with 21 years separating the 40-year-old Williams from the 19-year-old Raducanu. But after a career marked by countless comebacks, Williams’ one-year absence from the tour after last year’s Wimbledon has so far proved too long for her to recapture her best form. Williams opened the match with a horrible opening serve, making four errors in a row and losing the first five points of the match as she promptly fell down a break. She set the tone for a terrific performance until the end as she once again struggled desperately to establish any timing to her groundstrokes and her significantly reduced movement meant she was a sitting duck whenever Raducanu took control. After a year of constant attention following her US Open victory, for Raducanu this was a rare opportunity as, for once, all cameras and eyes were on her opponent across the net. Without expectations or inhibitions, Raducanu played a flawless match. She enjoyed Williams’ early strokes, patiently tested her opponent’s shot tolerance in extended rallies, and whenever the ball dropped sharply, pounced without hesitation, exposing Williams’ much-reduced movement. He finished the match with only one error and 14 winners. “[This] it might be one of the last chances I get to play it,” he said. “You have to cherish the moment and you’ll have that memory for the rest of your career. I was just really trying to make the most of every spot out there and give myself the best memories since I played Serena once.” Emma Raducanu applauds Serena Williams off court at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Photo: Robert Prange/Getty Images Despite her glee, Raducanu reacted to her victory with an extremely subdued celebration, barely clenching a fist as Williams’ forehand flew away. “To be honest, I was in awe. I think I said ‘come on’ in the match and I was just saying to myself, because I respect her so much as an athlete, as a tennis player, as a person,” he said. In Toronto last week, a day after Williams announced she was counting down to the end of her career, she was beaten in straight sets by Belinda Bencic. After the loss, she remained on the field for a rare loser interview and could barely hold back tears as she said goodbye to Canada. This time, despite the fact that the organizers lined up champagne beside the stadium, there was no ceremony or silver lining. Williams packed her bags and left in a flash, her frustration clear for all to see. She did not attend her post-match press conference. There’s just one tournament left in Williams’ career, and it’s far from how she imagined it would end. She will now head to the US Open and the madness that awaits her there in her final event, having won just one match in her three back-to-back singles tournaments. “I think we all just have to honor Serena and her amazing career,” Raducanu said. “I’m so grateful for this experience of playing her and for our careers. Everything she has achieved is inspiring and it was a real honor to share the pitch with her.” For Raducanu, an unlikely chance to face a player who was famous before she even existed ended up being a dream. He will always be able to say he looked at Serena Williams on the court and walked away with a win. For her efforts, Raducanu will next face another of the most successful players of the last decade in the second round, as former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka awaits. With Raducanu also playing doubles alongside Elena Rybakina on Wednesday, she faces a brutal upset as the pair will face each other in the second match on Center Court despite Raducanu’s later finish. “Obviously with the last year I had, I get a lot of exposure to these great players, and every time you play them, you learn from them as well and what they do really well that helped them in their careers.” he said. “Yeah, it’s going to be a tough match tomorrow, for sure.”
