Andy Roddick has been there. Sort of.
In 2012, one day after his 30th birthday, the former US Open champion announced he would be retiring from tennis after the US Open. He had won his opening-round match at Flushing Meadows the day before, and now he knew each match for the remainder of the tournament could be his last.
That is the situation Serena Williams finds herself in as the US Open begins Monday. The 23-time grand slam champion announced in Vogue magazine on Aug. 9 that the US Open will be her final tournament. One loss, and her legendary career will come to a close.
“Having done it on a much smaller scale, it was one of my favorite weeks of my career when I retired at the US Open,” Roddick told The Sporting News, speaking on behalf of IBM. “I’m a blip on the radar compared to this celebration that Serena has ahead of her.
“As a friend, I hope she takes in the innocent moments, the interactions with people that she won’t know the frequency with which she will see them. I hope she pays attention to that part and I hope she takes a look around innocently at the stadium and it’s packed and people are cheering for her and she soaks that in.”
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Williams, 41, has played in three tournaments in 2022 – Wimbledon, Toronto and Cincinnati – and she is just 1-3, reaching the second round in Toronto. She has battled various nagging injuries that have hampered her play, but Roddick says he’s hearing encouraging things from Williams’ practice sessions. She has been more aggressive in her movements and is not wearing protective strappings on her knees.
Regardless of her physical state, the specter of her retirement will hang over every match she plays, and even for someone as experienced as Williams, that will take a toll.
“There’s not a lot of things Serena Williams is doing for the first time, but retiring at the US Open is a first, so how is she going to deal with those emotions?” Roddick said. “She was as emotional as I’ve ever seen her in Toronto. As much as she loves Toronto, New York is going to be a different type of relationship that has a lot of different roots for her.”
Williams won her first major at the US Open in 1999, defeating top seed Martina Hingis in the final, and reached nine more finals in New York, winning five of them. Her last US Open title came in 2014, and she lost in the finals in 2018 and 2019. And while her play has been sterling in front of the home crowd, Williams also had two regrettable incidents in high-profile moments. In 2009, she threatened a linesman after a foot-fault call, which resulted in a point penalty on match point in the semifinals against Kim Clijsters. In 2018, she received a game penalty after three violations in the final against Naomi Osaka, which contributed to her straight-sets loss.
Reaching a final this year is highly unlikely given her lack of court time in 2022, but she will be the star attraction on both the women’s and men’s side as long as she’s still in the draw. If she wins her first match against Danka Kovinic, Williams will face No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit in round 2.
“It’s anyone’s guess how it is going to go,” Roddick said. “I hope we get another thrill. I hope we get a dramatic three-setter where the crowd gets into it. But either way, I’m thankful she announced and let us in on the journey as we celebrate her career, which is what it should be.
“If it is first round, if it is fourth round, it is largely irrelevant as long as we can properly celebrate her place in the game, which is tough to put in the proper superlatives. If I know Serena, she’s thinking about one thing, and that is winning seven matches. I don’t know if that is possible. I hope it is. She ticks a little differently, which is why she has won 23 grand slams.”
Breaking down the 2022 US Open favorites
The betting favorite on the women’s side is world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, the 21-year-old from Poland who has two grand slams on her resume and put together a record 37-match win streak earlier this year that included seven wins at the French Open. In her two hardcourt tune-ups for the US Open, Swiatek lost in the Round of 16 in both Toronto (to Beatriz Haddad Maia) and Cincinnati (to Madison Keys).
The player Swiatek beat in the French Open final, American Coco Gauff, is among the players expected to play at least into the second week in New York. Gauff, who grew up idolizing the Williams sisters and upset Venus at Wimbledon in 2019 at age 15, is ranked No. 12 and will be playing in her fourth US Open. Her best finish has been the third round, but she reached the finals in doubles in 2021.
“I hope Coco makes a run. As much success as she had in that breakout Wimbledon when she was like 9 years old, and then the French Open this year, she can now navigate a grand slam tournament through two weeks,” Roddick said. “Find your pacing. Set it up. Fourteen days, 14 sets you need to win. You have to learn how to navigate that. She has not had her best results at the US Open. It is a learned practice to play on home soil. It can be super stressful.”
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With Novak Djokovic missing the tournament due to his vaccination status, the men’s favorite is defending champion Daniil Medvedev, who is ranked No. 1 in the world and denied Djokovic a Calendar Slam in the US Open final last year. He could face Wimbledon finalist Nick Krygios in the fourth round, a player Medvedev lost to in Toronto earlier this month.
“(Medvedev) is great at those longer matches,” Roddick said. “You give him a larger sample size to force you into errors. He has this awkward game where you feel like you are getting ahead of the ball, it is like a slow death. He’s probably the favorite since we don’t know the status of Rafa’s health.”
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