Serena Williams’ legendary tennis career likely over after third-round singles’ play loss at US Open: report
By Tom Schreiner
19 November 2012
Serena Williams’ illustrious tennis career is likely over after a third round singles draw loss to No. 44 Rennae Stubbs of South Africa at the US Open in Flushing Meadows.
Williams, who has been the world’s best women’s player for the last three years, won all 11 of her matches in the second round by dispatching Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, Agnieszka Radwanska and Maria Sharapova to reach the third week of competition.
However, she was unable to reach the match against No. 44 Rennae Stubbs, the only time Williams will be playing in a US Open final in her illustrious career, as Stubbs held a 7-5 lead in the best-of-five match.
While Williams said she was playing “as well as any of us can play,” the loss to Stubbs was a devastating blow as many expected her to win the match.
“First of all I want to say how happy I am to be here. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy coming to New York, I really enjoy playing here. It’s a great tournament. Unfortunately, we started really badly here,” Williams said to BBC Sport.
“We lost the first match, but I don’t think we started badly. We played really well in the second. We did OK in the third. I gave myself a chance, but couldn’t convert. The second set was really close at times and then it was a tie-break.
“With that being said, obviously it hurts. For me it’s a chance to play in the women’s singles final. I have to do the best that I can, and obviously I’m very disappointed. I came here to win the title, and I lost and unfortunately I