MARTIN SAMUEL: Venus and Serena’s last Sister Act showpiece fails to live up to its billing… as their swansong spectacle provides an abrupt end for tennis’ greatest ever doubles pair
- Serena and Venus Williams suffered a doubles defeat at the Arthur Ashe Stadium
- They were beaten in two sets by Czech pair Linda Noskova and Lucie Hradecka
- The sisters’ swansong showpiece seemed to meet its end as soon as it had begun
- The pair have 14 Grand Slam titles and a win-loss record that now ends at 176-30
After the one-woman show, it was time for Sister Act. Sadly, it could not live up to the billing.
The reunion of the greatest doubles players in tennis history — 14 Grand Slam titles and a win-loss record that now stops at 176-30 — was over almost as soon as it had begun.
The match took time, over two hours, but the end for Venus and Serena Williams came suddenly. It was as if somebody had marched into the room, mid-episode, and turned the show off.
Sisters Venus (L) and Serena (R) Williams suffered a first round defeat at the US Open on Friday
Having lost the first set on a tiebreak, going down 7-5 having led 5-3, it was a similar story of swift demise in set two.
After so much drama and delirium surrounding Serena’s progress, it was as if the sisters had been bundled out of a side door. Nobody quite knew what to do. Czech pair Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova were humble enough to look a little embarrassed, as if they knew they had spoiled the party.
It would have been lovely if Venus and Serena got the gang back together and made it 15 titles, but they have a combined world singles ranking of 1,917 and — more importantly — a combined age of 82.
The iconic pair were beaten in straight sets by Czech duo Linda Noskova and Lucie Hradecka
Yet what an era it has been. Not just the roll call of achievements, which will remain unsurpassed for generations, but the fact that right to the end they continued changing the game.
Local time, 7pm, at the Arthur Ashe Stadium is the absolute prime slot for US Open tennis and its host broadcasters.
The greatest players, the best matches, are placed there. How often, then, will that marquee match-up feature a women’s doubles match? A first-round women’s doubles match at that.
As partners, they have claimed 14 Grand Slam titles and hold a win-loss record of 176-30
And yet nobody made the argument that they should have played second fiddle to Rafael Nadal, winner of more men’s singles Grand Slams than any player in history.
This, correctly, was the Williams’ stage. Right to the last, they were taking a hammer to that glass ceiling.
Inside the arena, mind, the ticket holders did not appear to have grasped the significance. Maybe this was a crowd that just got lucky, bought a ticket for the Thursday evening session and wound up watching the history girls in what we now know was their final appearance together.
Serena’s swansong will continue against Ajla Tomljanovic in the women’s singles third round
You know when the Open golf is at St Andrews and it is almost compulsory for commentators to remark on the knowledge of the gallery? The US Open isn’t like that. On Tuesday, Emma Raducanu, the defending champion, played at the Louis Armstrong Stadium to an audience that did not pause its chatter for a second.
It was not quite that bad for the Williams pair — most people at least seemed to know who they were — but the chat was a constant factor. Then, if the Czech pair were in the ascendancy, even that died down and the noise of the air conditioning took over.
At the end, the sisters vacated the stage to rapturous applause from a crowd, some of whom were paying real attention to them for the first time that night.
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