MARTIN SAMUEL: Serena Williams is not ready to concede the stage just yet

In moments of tension, a voice from the depths of Arthur Ashe Stadium broke the silence. ‘Let’s go, momma,’ it cried. ’You got this.’

And that’s how it is, for the greats. Everybody sees themselves reflected. So if you’re a mom, Serena is you, striving to overcome life’s challenges. And if you’re a woman, even a privileged white woman who has drunk cocktails and talked all the way through her match, breaking off only for occasional attention-seeking whoops, then Serena’s doing it for you, too. 

And she’s representing colour, and the disadvantaged, and the celebrities who reclaim fame through seeing her play, their faces projected on the giant screens to screams and cheers. Mike Tyson, after the fifth game of the second set. Now there’s one to square off with the empowerment of women. Bill Clinton, too.

And we get to go through it all again on Wednesday, because she won. Of course she won. What did you think? That the Serena of Cincinnati and Toronto was it? That she was going to depart with a whimper, tennis as much retiring from her as she from it? 

The organisers may have feared that, which is why they organised Williams’ public leaving do for the end of her first round match. There were speeches and a video tribute from Oprah Winfrey and a choreographed ‘card stunt’ in which the entire arena held up pieces of paper that spelled ‘We love you Serena’, while the object of their affections pretended to be surprised by this ambush. That she had just won, straight sets, 6-3, 6-3 rather spoiled the drama. 

When she does depart this tournament, and her professional career, it will be with a final twirl and a wave, not this big show. It was as if they couldn’t keep booking CBS host Gayle King round after round, so decided to go early. 

Williams was a good sport about it all anyway. How couldn’t she be? Flushing was gushing with praise for the GOAT. Twitter had created an emoji just for the occasion. Beyonce had narrated another film in her honour, courtesy of Gatorade. Hashtag #Twirl for Serena was trending with everyone invited to recreate her iconic salute to the court. It was a huge deal. She was serenaded by singers from Ukraine and a Disney princess.

And yet, the GOAT did not play as if ready to concede the stage. Yes, there were too many double faults and Danka Kovinic of Montenegro is quite the favourable draw, putting up enough resistance to make a match of it, but not so much that the night ended in awkwardness. Yet there were moments, and plenty of them, when memories of those 23 singles Grand Slams were rekindled, when any future opponent – even second seed Anett Kontaviet, who she meets in the next round – will have looked at her performance with a degree of trepidation. Certainly with the crowd behind her Williams will be a force here.

Asked what would live with her about the night, Williams was in no doubt. The noise as she stepped onto court was unlike anything she had heard. ‘The reaction was overwhelming,’ she said. ‘It was so loud I could feel it in my chest. And I still had a match to play. I was thinking to myself, “Is this for real?” And I wanted to play up to that reception.’

But can it have been that much of a surprise? Williams knew this was her night and her entrance was not that of an athlete who was expecting the same old routine. It was a heavyweight champion’s ring walk, or as good as. Her opponent, Kovinic, was already on court, like the challenger, when the champ was introduced. First, there was the video montage, the name called out for dramatic effect and then the jump cut to the tunnel, where Williams was waiting sheathed in diamonds and theatrical black. Her overgarment, cape-like, was black, her outfit black, 400 diamonds and jewels sparkled beneath the lights, rap music played and out she marched. 

Think Tyson. Think Deontay Wilder. No, think Tyson. Wilder gets beat too often. It was Tyson that sprung to mind here. Tyson when he was the man in black. Black shorts, black boots, black gloves; 220lbs of brooding menace. Williams does not exude that, but nor does she look like your average circuit professional, even with her powers waning. That formidable physique remains. And she’s a star. Glamorous, captivating, a wall of camera phones detailed her every move. 

Kovinic hopped about, keen, Williams shed several of her six layers, one for each of her US Open triumphs. That’s another reason her fans adore her. She dresses for drama, she dresses to impress. Many would like to think they do the same. Few carry it off as she does.

There were a lot of Williams super-fans on the premises, too. They hung out in their homemade tribute T-shirts and outfits, hoping get their 15 minutes with a passing TV crew. With so much airtime to fill waiting for the 7pm start, they were not disappointed. A posse of four mommas in bright yellow were regularly called upon to make a noise for the nightly news. ‘Unapologetic,’ read the front of their tops, with a picture of a clenched-fist Serena below. ‘The Goddess – the GOAT’, it read underneath. On the back, a quote. ‘She played the game like her life depended on it – and she changed the game forever.’ And that’s true. 

‘Serena is unequivocally the best athlete ever,’ said Naomi Osaka. ‘Forget female athlete. I mean athlete. No one else has changed her sport as much as she did and against all odds.’ Can’t argue with that. Comparisons through time, and gender, can never be resolved with any finality. It will always come down to opinion. Osaka’s seems as good as any. Whatever we may think of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, they haven’t reinvented men’s tennis the way Williams transformed the female game.

There is an interview with her in Time magazine this week and teased snippets are slipping out. ‘We changed how people play, period,’ she says, including her sister, Venus. ‘People never attacked. People never took balls early. People never served like this. People never had to play so hard to beat two black girls from Compton.’ 

Later she reflects on an achievement that is truly beyond her male contemporaries. ‘I don’t know any other person that has won a Grand Slam or a championship in the NBA or anything else nine weeks pregnant,’ she says. ‘A two-week event. That tournament, I relied on my brain. An athlete isn’t just about what an animal you are physically, like a specimen. It’s using everything. Your mind, your body. And doing that for 20 years. And doing it against people that come against you and play the best game of their life. Every single time.’

Of course, that’s not literally true. But it is what it must feel like to spend three decades with a target on your back. When Williams won her first Grand Slam, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were yet to play football for England, Tom Brady hadn’t yet entered the NFL Draft, James Anderson was not a Test cricketer, LeBron James was in High School, Tiger Woods was yet to win the Open championship or US Open. This is an incredible dynasty of excellence. And it’s not over. Not yet. Maybe Wednesday, maybe later. What is certain though, is that this will not end without a fight. It may be a fight sprinkled in diamonds, it may be a fight fit to grace the cover of Vogue, Women’s Health or Today’s Parent, but it will be a fight. You can count on that.

As Serena walked to her mark to close out the match, the sound of Missy Elliott echoed around the arena. ‘Is it worth it, let me work it, I put my thang down, flip it and reverse it…’ And she will. And she does.