This US Open belongs to Serena Williams.
She may not win it – although few would rule that out now, after her dramatic 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-2 victory over Anett Kontaveit, the second seed – but at the deepest, most visceral level, the tournament is hers. She knows it, her adoring New York public know it, and her opponents have not been allowed to forget it.
Who else gets to walk out to a pre-match video montage? At what other major would a home favourite benefit from Queen Latifah, no less, declaring over a blaring sound system that the opposing player is about to face the queen of “never, ever going down without a fight”, and that “you don’t stand a chance if you see this face”? Kontaveit must have felt she had been thrown to the lions even before the warm-up had begun.
The US Open would surely do well to rethink the timing of its big-screen tributes to Williams. Like Danka Kovinic on Monday, Kontaveit was made to enter the cauldron of Arthur Ashe Stadium – where 29,959 emotionally inflamed spectators lay in wait – before the video rhapsody to the six-time champion was played. Yet convention dictates that the higher-ranked player takes to the court last and Williams, who announced her impending retirement earlier this month, arrived in New York at No 605 on the ladder. Forcing her opponents to wait courtside while the razzamatazz plays out feels inappropriate at best, brazenly partisan at worst.
Kontaveit handled it all with grace, courage and admirable determination. But as the crowd greeted every Williams success with a wall of enraptured noise, regardless of whether their joy was sparked by a Williams winner or a Kontaveit error, a line was crossed. Williams tacitly acknowledged as much early in the decider, sportingly raising a hand to quieten the clamour as Kontaveit prepared to serve after a close call had gone in the Estonian’s favour, averting a break.
Amid the unbridled passion and noise that cascaded down from the stands, the combatants staged a contest of rich quality. Both women remained unsparing in their commitment to attack; each stubbornly refused to give ground in the face of setbacks. When Williams smashed down an ace to take the first set, having earlier faltered as she attempted to serve out at 5-4, Kontaveit responded with an irresistible passage of play, storming into a 5-1 lead in the blink of an eye.
But this US Open belongs to Williams, and down the stretch she was irresistible. She returned from a bathroom break to cruise through her opening service game, wrested Kontaveit’s serve from her with a searing forehand winner, and shrugged off the subsequent loss of her own delivery with some mighty returning to restore her advantage. She would not be caught.
There was a warm exchange between the pair at the net afterwards, and the cordiality extended into the press room, where Kontaveit hailed the performance of the “amazing” Williams even while admitting it was hard to compete in such a febrile atmosphere. Asked if she felt Williams has become bigger than the sport, Kontaveit declined to take the bait, simply acknowledging that the occasion was about her opponent.
“It was her moment,” said Kontaveit, whose own frequent brilliance was met with stony silence by the otherwise raucous audience. “I was trying to do my own thing. I mean, of course, this is totally about her. I was very aware of that.”
Later, though, once the conversation had switched to Estonian, Kontaveit was overcome with emotion as she responded to an inquiry about the crowd, offering a halting answer before abruptly leaving the room.
“It was something I never experienced before,” she said through a veil of tears. “I don’t think it’s a personal attack against me or anything. I mean, it’s fair. I definitely had no shame losing to Serena… It was very difficult with the crowd.”
As Kontaveit would be the first to acknowledge, none of this is on Williams. The adulation lavished upon the 23-time grand slam champion this week has been earned countless times over in the 27 years since she played her first professional match. From the United States Tennis Association to the fans and the media, there is an overarching desire to give Williams the send-off she deserves (even if she has left the door open for an improbable about turn). Rightly so. Yet it is also important to respect the boundaries of fairness.
It would be a shame if all the hoopla surrounding Williams, who faces Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic next, tarnished her farewell. Nobody wants to see a palpably decent and respectful young woman like Kontaveit reduced to tears, and while it would be foolhardy to suppose that tens of thousands of baying New Yorkers can be controlled, the timing of video tributes is another matter.
Throughout her career, Williams’s tennis has always spoken for itself; she does not require a narrator, and needs no introduction.