Whatever the outcome of this match, the 40-year-old American (she will celebrate her 41st birthday on September 26) will not yet leave the Flushing Meadows courts for good, as having received an invitation, she will play the doubles tournament alongside of her older sister Venus (42 years old), who she has not yet announced an upcoming retirement.
Together they have won 14 Grand Slam titles, including the US Open twice.
But for the champion with 23 Grand Slam titles (including the first in 1999 in New York), considered the greatest player of all time even if she remains one length away from the absolute Major record held by Australian Margaret Court , the simple prevails.
Also, the confrontation with Kovinic (start of the match scheduled at 7:00 p.m. local time, Tuesday 1:00 a.m. French) will already be a game for Williams for survival.
“I hope she will have fun,” commented the four-time winner of the tournament John McEnroe, now a consultant for Eurosport, with one certainty about his compatriot: “Serena does not come to lose in the first round” .
– Even more scared –
However, she was beaten as soon as she entered the competition in June at Wimbledon by the 115th world, the French Harmony Tan, for her return to singles after a year of absence, due to a leg injury. Then, she spent only one round in Toronto, then lost entry in Cincinnati.
So Kovinic has everything from the trap, she who reached the third round at Roland-Garros in May where she only yielded against the unplayable world No.1 Iga Swiatek, and at the Australian Open in January where she had notably beaten the Briton Emma Raducanu all crowned with her surprise triumph in New York a few months earlier.
Another element to take into account, the devastating Serena Williams still inspires respect but no longer scares her opponents as much as she impressed so much in her prime.
On the other hand, it will be able to rely on the public of the Arthur-Ashe court, the largest and noisiest tennis arena in the world with its 23,800 seats, which will be all the more behind it as each match may be the last.
If she manages to overcome the Kovinic obstacle, the next one could be much higher still, since she could face the Estonian world No.2 Anett Kontaveit.
But even in the twilight of her career, even though tennis occupies an increasingly minor place in her life as a mother and a businesswoman, Serena Williams remains Serena, the player having grown up in the violent ghetto of Compton, near Los Angeles, and whose fighting spirit has never wavered.
So “don’t underestimate her,” warns her compatriot Chris Evert, a six-time US Open winner like Williams, who admits, however, that “it will be difficult for her to reach the second week”.
