Serena Williams’s long and successful doubles career is probably over after she and her sister Venus lost to Linda Nosková and Lucie Hradecká of the Czech Republic in the first round of the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York in straight sets.
On Friday, the 23-time grand slam singles winner and 14-time grand slam doubles winner will take on Australian Ajla Tomljanovi in the third round of the singles draw. On Tuesday, Venus Williams went down in the very first round.
Serena and Venus may have played their last game on Thursday night as a doubles team. Nosková, 17 and Hradecká, 37, of the Czech Republic, won 7-6(5), 6-4 to move on to the second round.
Hradecká told the crowd of over 23,000 in an on-court interview immediately following the match, “I think we did a very good job and I’m so sorry for you that we beat them, but we are so happy we did it.”
They held a 4-1 lead in the second set, but Venus and Serena won the next three games to force a tiebreaker. Holding serve, the Czechs extended their lead to 5-4 and in the deciding game, Hradecká broke Serena with a backhand shot between the sisters at the net.
Regarding doubles at the US Open, the Williams sisters were given a “wild card.” In their most recent doubles outing in 2018 they advanced to the round of 16 at the French Open.
Serena won their singles match on Wednesday, 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-2, against Anett Kontaveit. Williams played her fourth match after saying in Vogue she plans to “evolve away from tennis” after the US Open.
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to inform you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” she remarked.
The 42-year-old Venus Williams has been mum about her plans for the tennis future.
They have won a combined 48 Grand Slam tournaments between singles and doubles and mixed doubles and they would have a perfect record in doubles finals if they retire this year.
They also won a total of three Olympic doubles gold medals and one Olympic singles gold medal between them.
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