Playing in front of thousands of empty blue seats in an arena was initially quite quiet, although it later grew louder, with Venus losing 6–1, 7–6 for her second consecutive appearance in the first round of the US Open. ) to Alison van Uytwank on Tuesday.
“She means a lot to women’s tennis. Tennis, in general,” van Uytvanck said. “He’s a legend.”
It was Flushing Meadows’ 23rd visit to Venus, making the finals as a teenager in 1997 and then winning the trophy in 2000 and 2001, and her record 91st time in a major tournament.
Venus had never lost in the US Open opening round until 2020, then was absent last year.
When asked what motivates him these days, he replied: “Three letters: victory. That’s it. Very easy.”
On the night, Emma Raducanu became the third defending US Open champion to lose in the first round, going down 6-3, 6-3 to Alize Cornet.
Radukanu, who was 18 and ranked 150th when she won the title as a qualifier a year earlier, was plagued by hand blisters – she took a medical timeout for treatment after the first set – and Cornet, 32, stunned her. Overcame it From France who also upset No. 1 Inga Swietek at Wimbledon.
Radukanu said, “Obviously really disappointing. Really sad to leave here. It’s probably my favorite tournament. But at the same time, I mean, (I’m) happy, because it’s a clean Slate.”
“I’m going to drop down the rankings. (Will) be on my way back up.”
Also playing under the lights was 22-time major champion Rafael Nadal, who returned to the US Open for the first time since 2019 and defeated 21-year-old Rinki Hijikata 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 . , Nadal did not show any serious problems with the torn abdominal muscles, which forced him to pull out of Wimbledon in July.
Nadal’s victory was followed by a match between four-time Grand Slam title winner Naomi Osaka and 2022 Australian Open runner-up Daniel Collins in the Ashes.
Venus was completely off touring in singles less than a month before August 2021 and is now 0-4 since her return. His ranking – which was No. 1 20 years ago – is up 1,504th this week.
“It was definitely the longest time I’ve been away from tennis and I didn’t have a racquet in my hand. So it was a completely new experience for me, getting a racquet back in my hand and getting used to it as quickly as possible. Trying to be. For the US Open, that wasn’t easy,” she said.
“There’s a lot of great points playing out for sure, but in the end, it’s just rust. There’s nothing you can do about it other than, you know, not get wild at some point.”
It was Serena who announced to the world on 9 August that she was preparing to withdraw from her playing career, it is unclear when the end will come, although she hinted that it could come at the US Open.
So her first-round match fell into the category of a must-see on Monday, drawing a record crowd of over 29,000 to the tournament grounds, including more than 23,000 at Ash – and the atmosphere was tumultuous and electric from start to finish. . She registered a 6-3, 6-3 win over Danka Kovinic.
Serena, who has now won six of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles in New York, will face No. 2 seed Annette Kontaveit in a matchup at The Ashes on Wednesday night.
And then he and Venus will join forces in duets on Thursday, this week teaming up for the first time anywhere since 2018.
When a reporter asked if Venus had retirement on her mind, she replied: “Right now, I’m just focusing on doubles.”
So how did the pairing reunite who has earned 14 Grand Slam titles at that event?
Venus said, “It was Serena’s idea. She’s the boss, so I do what she tells me.” “We’ve had some great wins. It would be nice to add a few more.”
Van Uytwank now meets Clara Burrell, who defeated Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-4.
In other action on a humid and windy Day 2 at the hard-court tournament, women’s winners included 2017 champion Sloane Stephens, No. 1 Inga Swietake, No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 8 Jessica Pegula, No. 9 Garbine Muguruza, No. 13 Belinda Bencic – whose rival Andrea Petkovic said she is retiring from pro tennis – and No. 22 Karolina Pliskova, 2016 runner-up in New York.
The men advancing were 2014 champion Marin Cilic, No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 7 Cam Nori, No. 8 Hubert Herkaz, No. 9 Andrey Rublev, No. 11 Jannik Sinar, No. 15 Marin Cilic, No. 17 Grigor Dimitrov. and the number 28 Holger rune, which further meets John Isner.
Neither Williams appeared in the first-round singles match of the second; Venus said she saw Serena on TV, but was not there in person because of the early start the next day.
His mother Orsin and sister Isha were in the guest box every time. On Tuesday, he saw Venus struggling from the start, especially with his used service and groundstrokes that weren’t calibrated correctly. In so many traps. So long landing.
After a few of her 25 unforced errors, Venus springs up with a tug on the strings of her racket or the edge of her visor.
Ten of those mistakes came on backhands, far more than his two winners on that side.
There were half a dozen double faults, only three aces. He faced 12 break points and dropped four of his 10 service games.
In just 20 minutes, there was a 4-0 lead for van Uytvanck, 28, a Belgian who is ranked 43rd and came into the day with a 1-8 career point at the US Open.
Venus made a slight stand, to break the second set and hold for 2–0. But it would be the only break of the match for him and soon, van Uytwank was shooing away a volley winner to close the win.
The night before, Serena was honored during a post-match ceremony that included a video tribute to Oprah Winfrey and a lengthy on-court interview. After the match, Venus put her red tool bag over her left shoulder, took her racket in her right hand, and quickly headed to the locker room.
