Posted: 00:46, September 2, 2022 | Updated: 04:29, September 2, 2022
Serena and Venus Williams received a standing ovation as they took the court at the US Open for their first-round doubles match on Thursday night. The superstar sisters were given the primetime slot for Arthur Ashe after revealing they would be playing together via a wild card last week. The match had more significance than usual as it could be their last doubles match together, given that Serena is set to “evolve” away from tennis after the Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows. The sisters joined forces in the US Open doubles draw for the first time since 2014 when they faced Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova, but suffered a straight sets defeat on Thursday night. They were beaten 7-6 (5), 6-4 on the main stage in New York, with Serena now focusing solely on singles after her impressive win over world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit on Wednesday. Serena and Venus Williams received a standing ovation as they left the court on Thursday The sisters received a warm welcome from fans inside Arthur Ashe at the US Open Serena faces Australian Alja Tomljanovic in the third round under the lights on Friday night. Venus and Serena hadn’t played together in a Grand Slam doubles match since the 2018 French Open. They hadn’t played doubles at Flushing Meadows since 2014. When the sisters reached Grand Slam doubles finals, they were perfect — going 14-for-14 in the final round, including two victories in Queens in 1999 and 2009. Additionally, the sisters have won three Olympic gold medals in doubles at the 2000 Sydney, 2008 Beijing and 2012 London games. The sisters have joined forces in the US Open doubles draw for the first time since 2014 Serena, 40, announced she was “retiring” from tennis earlier this month, meaning her home Grand Slam is set to be her last. Williams called time on her career, announcing her decision in next month’s Vogue, although a specific date for when she will go has not been confirmed. The news came after the American superstar scored her first win in 430 days, but she said in the article: “It’s the hardest thing I could ever imagine. I don’t want it to end, but at the same time I’m ready for the next one.’ Williams doesn’t use the word “retirement.” “I never liked the word,” Williams wrote in the latest issue of Vogue. “It doesn’t seem like a modern word to me. I thought of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use this word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Venus and Serena have not played together in a Grand Slam doubles since the 2018 French Open “Maybe the best word to describe what I do is evolution,” he continued. “I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, towards other things that are important to me.” Not only does Serena want to spend more time with her husband, Alexis, and five-year-old Olympia, but the multiple champion revealed that the couple are trying to have another child in the near future. “For the past year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child and we recently got some information from my doctor that helped me feel that whenever we are ready, we can add to our family,” Williams wrote. “I definitely don’t want to get pregnant again as an athlete. I have to be two feet in tennis or two feet out.’
