Unwilling to go quietly, Williams staved off five match points to prolong the three-hours-plus proceedings, as some spectators stood to watch, camera phones at the ready. No one - save, of course, Tomljanovic - wanted this to end.
If this was, indeed, the last hurrah, she took her fans on a thrill-a-minute throwback ride at the hard-court tournament that was the site of a half-dozen of her 23 Grand Slam championships. The first came in 1999 in New York, when Williams was just 17.Williams gave away leads in each set, including the last, in which she was up 1-0 before dropping the final six games.
Williams let a 5-3 lead vanish in the first set. She did something similar in the second, giving away edges of 4-0 and 5-2, and requiring five set points to finally put that one in her pocket. From 4-all in the tiebreaker, meaning Williams was three points from defeat, she pounded a 117 mph ace, hit a forehand winner to cap a 20-stroke exchange, then watched Tomljanovic push a forehand long.
An amazing and inspiring woman and athlete, who has had a phenomenal career in tennis. She will be missed but always remembered ❤️🎾
I feel bad for her. She has had a fantastic career. She should be proud of herself. Now, I'm not a tennis fan at all. I don't even like table tennis. But, I have respect for her, and let her leave in a blaze of glory. That's the same thing as Magic Johnson leaving basketball.
That final game of the match will be discussed for a long time. It was a classic—as were several others.
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