US Open: Serena heads into retirement after a battling loss to Tomljanovic on night of searing emotion

NEW YORK: It was a tumultuous outcome on Friday in what was her last competitive outing. Serena took decisive leads in the first two sets - 5-3 and 4-0 - before going down in the decider to heavy-striking Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic 5-7, 7-6 (4), 1-6 in 3-hours and 5-minutes. It was the longest match she has played at Flushing Meadows, but the deeper the exchange stretched her chances of closing out diminished.
Serena, who had 11 aces and 49 winners in the match, was range and resolve for most part, saving five match-points before her forehand found the net at the sixth chance of calling for Tomljanovic.
"I've been down 5-1 before and come back. I don't really give up," Serena said. "In my career I've never given up. In matches I don't give up. I definitely wasn't giving up tonight. That's kind of what I was thinking - fight."

The 'Twirl Like Serena' campaign, which went viral in the lead-up to the tournament, didn't come into play at the end of Friday's match. It's a turn she takes after wins, a victory celebration. Instead she spent a poignant moment looking up at the staggering arena, hand on her heart, thanking the crowd that literally played every point with her this week. She saved the twirl for when she was invited to speak. "Thank you, daddy, I know you're watching. Thanks, mom," Serena said, tearing up during an emotional tribute to her box. "It all started with my parents and they deserve everything. And I wouldn't be Serena if there wasn't Venus, so thank you, Venus. She's the only reason that Serena Williams ever existed. . . "
Serena - stinging serve and vicious forehand, unbounded power and athleticism, flirting with lines and ripping open the rectangle - said she'd like to be remembered as a fighter. "I'm such a fighter," she said. "I really brought something to tennis. The different looks, the fist pumps, the just crazy intensity. The passion."
Then typically the 23-time major-winner, whose daughter Olympia is five, left the door ajar on her way out of the arena.

"I've come a long way since last year at Wimbledon," she said of her first-round exit 14 months ago, when she slipped and hurt her right leg and was forced to retire from the match. "I'm not sure if that was my last moment or not. Making it a different moment I think is much better." Getting back on the road only gets tougher from here for the 40-year-old. "It takes a lot of work to get here. Clearly I'm still capable," she said, adding, "I'm ready to be a mom, explore a different version of Serena. Technically in the world I'm still super young, so I want to have a little bit of a life while I'm still walking."
"I don't think so," Serena said during her on-court interview when asked if she would reconsider the goodbye, "but you never know."
Later, in the press conference, she said she wasn't thinking about returning. "I always did love Australia, though," she added with a smile. The season's first Grand Slam will be played in Melbourne in January.