While Leylah Fernandez was out-scrambling more powerful opponents, and while Emma Raducanu was stealing 18 straight sets at the U.S. Open, Serena Williams found time to post one video of herself cooking with daughter Olympia on Facebook and another hawking DirecTV on Twitter.
If ever this tournament represented a sea change, then here it was: A pair of precocious teens ripping through the Open brackets, all the way to the final, as Serena tended to more practical matters at home. The tennis world had turned, and the greatest player who ever lived was no longer part of it.
This is how it works, sometimes, and really it is quite normal and sensible for Serena to rest on her laurels as her latest injury heals. The last time two teenagers met in the Open final, it was 1999 and Serena beat Martina Hingis. Now, she is the mother of a 4-year-old, and her past feats on court dwarf those of all others who came before. If you still believe that she needs to match or surpass Margaret Court’s record of 24 major titles, then you weren’t following the sport when the biggest stars avoided the Australian Open like it was Siberia.
On Thursday night, Serena could only watch the semifinals at Flushing Meadows, where Fernandez, a Canadian immigrant story, beat Aryna Sabalenka, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4; and where Raducanu, who emigrated from Canada to Britain, defeated Maria Sakkari, 6-1, 6-4.
The imposing, 23-year-old Sabalenka walloped 119-mph serves at her lithe, balletic opponent. Fernandez, who just turned 19 years old, came right back at the Belarussian. She is a remarkable returner who can neutralize power while scooting along the baseline. Fernandez had a ridiculously tough draw in New York, and outfoxed them all during her long hours on court.
How did she do it?
“Tears and blood and sacrifice,” Fernandez declared.
Then Raducanu, 18, another smallish athlete, took apart the big smasher, Sakkari. Raducanu needed to win three qualifiers just to enter the main draw in Flushing Meadows. Her ranking will jump on Monday at least 118 places, to No. 32 in the world, even if she loses the final. She won’t merely be invited to main draws now. She’ll be seeded in many of them.
This is all great news for tennis, and for the two teens. At the same time, though, it is lights out for Serena. She turns 40 in two weeks, and her ranking is about to sink beyond that number on Monday.
By the time the Australian Open rolls around in 2022, it will be five years since Serena won a Grand Slam event. After what has taken place at the Open, she must know there is nothing left for her except a farewell tour and some well-earned, loving tributes.
Serena had many rivals over the years. None drove her crazier than Justine Henin, who beat Williams back in 2007 in three straight quarterfinals at Paris, Wimbledon and New York. But this is something different. Serena once knew where her next tough match was coming from. Now, the field is so deep, and so young, an ambush may arrive from anywhere. She will be unseeded, and liable to meet any one of these top players in any round.
When she dropped out of the Open with a torn hamstring, Serena promised she would be back. She should do that, leave on her own terms. You just hope she does so with a realistic attitude. Serena will be facing opponents half her age, which can be both terrifying and humiliating.
Raducanu fully understood she had that huge psychological advantage all tournament.
“Being young, you do play completely free,” Raducanu said, after her semifinal win. “But I’m sure when I’m order or have more experience, the same will happen to me. The tables will turn. Some younger players will come through.”
It is always a tough thing, losing a big match to a younger player, because often there is no way back. When Pam Shriver fell to a 16-year-old Steffi Graf in three tiebreakers on the grandstand court in 1985, she sobbed at length under the bleachers. Shriver understood right then that she would not be the successor to Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova. Graf was only going to get better.
That might also be the case with Fernandez and Raducanu, who once met at Junior Wimbledon and will compete on Saturday in the most unexpected of U.S. Open finals. You can’t know yet how they will react to this success.
“There’s no limit to what I can do,” Fernandez said.
Sabalenka was not so sure about that.
“Seems like in these two weeks, everything was working well for her, like this is nothing to lose,” Sabalenka said, about Fernandez. “People are here supporting her. She’s staying on the baseline, hitting I would say sometimes crazy shots and everything is going in. Everything is going her way. Now there is no pressure on her at all. I felt it myself before. This is cool.
“But the question is when you will start to understand what’s going on, and where you are, how good can you deal with all these expectations and all this pressure.”
That question is for next year, and the years after that. On Saturday, a fresh generation of stars enjoys the spotlight. Two teenagers. Another layer of resistance on tour.
Just what Serena didn’t need.