The American lost in three sets, 7-5, 6-7(4) and 6-1, against the Australian
Absolute record of viewers in New York: more than 72,000
the american Serena Williams lost this friday 7-5, 6-7(4) and 6-1 against the Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the US Open, in the match that could mark the career end point. A total of 72,039 viewers attended the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and 23,859 fans sold out the Arthur Ashe court to attend the last game of Serena Williams’ career, according to official data provided by the organization.
In Flushing Meadows there is no longer talk of ‘seven in the afternoon’ but of ‘Serena Time’ (Serena’s time), since Williams’ four games have been organized at this time on the Arthur Ashe track, in prime time television. The chain ‘ESPN’, owner of the television rights in the United States, broadcast Williams’ three singles matches in prime time, in addition to the last doubles of his career with his sister Venus, lost on Thursday at an Arthur Ashe court Completely full. Each of these nights saw extraordinary results, with an average of 2.7 million viewers for Monday’s match and a peak of five million at the key moment in Williams’ second-round win against Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit. This data improves the result of the third day of the 2021 tournament by 289%, according to the ‘ESPN’ network.
Williams, 40, assured in a recent interview that she is ready to leave tennis and suggested that this would happen after this US Open. The American won 73 trophies in her career, including 23 ‘big ones’, with seven Wimbledons, seven Australian Opens, six US Opens and three Roland Garros.
To follow? “I don’t think so, but you never know”
The American assured this Friday, after her elimination, that at this time he does not intend to reconsider the idea of retiring of tennis, but left a small possibility open by saying that “you never know”. “I don’t think so, but you never know. I don’t know,” Serena Williams claimed in her emotional interview on a packed Arthur Ashe track. “Thanks a lot, I tried. Thanks dad, I know you’re watching. Thanks mom,” Williams said, before getting emotional. “Thank you to everyone who has been by my side over the decades. But I start with my family. I wouldn’t be Serena if there were no Venus, so thank you Venus. She is the only reason Serena existed,” she said.