By Melody Miller
Serena Williams’ expected retirement was put on hold yet again after she pulled off a 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2 upset of No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit in the second round of the US Open.
“It’s no rush here,” Williams said during her on-court interview after a match that ran 2 hours, 26 minutes. “I’m loving this crowd. Oh my goodness. It’s really fantastic. So there’s a little left in me.”
Williams, 40, announced her plans to “evolve” from tennis in a first-person essay in Vogue earlier this month, citing her desire to grow her family. Since her initial reveal, she has received countless tributes and ovations and her matches have become must-see events.
An average of 2.7 million viewers tuned in to ESPN for her match Monday night — almost four times higher than the comparable time slot earned in 2021 — and a record number of fans were on the grounds.
The tournament, in fact, set another milestone for night-session attendance Wednesday, with 29,959 fans entering the National Tennis Center. It was the second such record set in three evenings, breaking Monday’s 29,402 mark.
