Expect plenty of fanfare for Serena Williams' final U.S. Open

There was not much fanfare. That’s what Chris Evert recalls about her final U.S. Open.

Evert, then 34, announced her retirement in a Sports Illustrated story that was published on the eve of the 1989 U.S. Open and featured the pull-out quote “I’m going to be a full-time wife” next to her smiling face on the cover.

“I just waved and walked off the court and that was it,” Evert recalled of her reaction after losing to Zina Garrison in the 1989 quarterfinals. “I just wish maybe I could have savored the moment or been more emotional . . . It was so different in that day.”

On Monday night, Serena Williams will meet Danka Kovinic in the opening match of what is expected to be her final U.S. Open. The United States Tennis Association has not announced specifically how it plans to say goodbye to Williams, but you can bet it’s not going to be a low-key affair.

Williams, winner of 23 major singles titles, is considered the best player in women’s tennis history by almost everyone. Some consider her the best player, period.

There’s no shortage of people who will say “I was there” for the final chapter of her storied career. To them, it doesn’t matter that she is ranked 605th and is just a shadow of her former self.

The USTA sold more than 16,500 tickets alone on Aug. 9, the day that Williams announced in an as-told-to essay in Vogue magazine that indicated that the tournament likely will be her last. As of Sunday, the worst ticket for the Williams-Kovinic match was going for $272, or more than triple the face value.

Like Evert, there was no grand farewell celebration for John McEnroe.

“I never actually retired,” said McEnroe, who last played singles on the professional tour in 1992 when he was ranked 20th in the world. “I told my [wife at the time] if I didn’t win a major in 1992 that I would basically stop playing.”

McEnroe hadn’t won a major since 1984, so heading into the U.S. Open, he knew it was pretty likely that this would be his last hurrah.

“It really boils down to what a player wants,” he said. “Do they want that type of fanfare? Do you get showered with some gifts, which is nice. I recall Martina [Navratilova] doing more like that type of farewell tour. To each his own.

“But to me, it was like a lot was going on off the court. So for me, I never even had any of that. But that’s the way I preferred it.”

Williams’ farewell holds a special significance for a number of players on the tour.

Naomi Osaka, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys and Coco Gauff have said that watching Williams, a woman of color, dominate the game was a major inspiration for them to get into the sport.

Osaka said it really hit her in early August when she watched Williams win her first-round match in the National Bank Open in Toronto. Though the Vogue article wouldn’t come out until the next day, Osaka had a feeling that she was witnessing the end of an era.

“For some reason, I just started crying because I felt it,” Osaka said. “I was like, ‘Dang, I don’t want this to be true.’

“When she announced it a day later, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, this is what devastation must feel like.’

“It is really an honor just to keep watching her play.”

Sister act with Venus

Serena and Venus Williams were drawn to face the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova in the first round of doubles at the U.S. Open.

The doubles competition will begin Wednesday, with first-round matches spread over that day and Thursday.

It is the first doubles event for the Williams sisters together since the 2018 French Open. They have won 14 Grand Slam championships in doubles as a team, most recently at Wimbledon in 2016.

Two of their doubles titles came at the U.S. Open in 1999 and 2009.  — AP

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.