Serena Williams, a true global icon at the dawn of her second life

• At 40, Serena Williams is playing the last tournament of her long and magnificent career, starting Monday at the US Open.

• The youngest of the Williams sisters, 23 Grand Slam titles and four Olympic gold medals, will leave a deep mark in the history of her sport, and even beyond.

• Because "Queen S" will have broken all codes, broken all taboos and led many societal fights against racial injustice, police violence, for the civil rights of the African-American community or women's rights.

He wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Despite a ministerial schedule with his tennis academy running at full speed, on the side of Boca Raton, Florida, Rick Macci will send everything upside down and take the first plane to New York, to attend Monday evening (7:00 p.m. local time , 1:00 a.m. in France) in what could be the very last professional match for Serena Williams.

“It's inconceivable that I'm not there, it's going to be one of the greatest moments in the history of tennis!

“, announces the one who was the very first coach of the Williams sisters, in the shadow of the all-powerful holy father King Richard, in Compton, from 1981 to 1985, where it all began.

After 25 years of an incredible career that has made the most experienced statisticians dizzy - 23 Grand Slam titles, four Olympic gold medals, 365 GC singles victories (a record in the history of women's and men's tennis combined ), 186 consecutive weeks spent at the top of the world rankings and around 875,923 mammoth slaps in service, Queen S said stop.

In his own way, with great pomp, in the columns of the so glam

and by mastering the clocks of time so that the success story is total.

“She did it, as always, by her own rules, smartly, at the right time.

She announces it in advance, she lets us prepare for the idea so that we can make the most of it all.

And then she stops where it all began, at home, at the US Open, where she won her first Grand Slam at 17 against Martina Hingis, poses Alyssa Roenigk, one of the journalists who knows best Serena Williams.

It's going to be a moment of incredible emotion, a poetic moment I would even say.

Flushing Meadows is the perfect place for a perfect ending.

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And no matter how to leave – a defeat in the first round is not to be excluded against Danka Kovinic, 80th in the world – as long as we have tears.

And the hairs.

Because we are not going to say goodbye to a simple tenniswoman, it is to a world icon, a juggernaut who will have marked history far beyond tennis, a woman who will have broken all the codes, broken all taboos and led a hell of a lot of societal battles before anyone else.

A source of inspiration like no one before her

When we talk about the youngest of the Williams sisters, one expression keeps coming up: the source of inspiration.

If the expression is sometimes overused, in the case of Serena, it could not fit better.

By becoming the second black woman in history to win a Grand Slam after Althéa Gibson in 1956 at Roland Garros – and from whom Serena Williams herself was inspired – the kid from Compton influenced a whole generation of players.

“She gave ideas, strength and courage to these black kids who turned on their TV and saw this woman who looks like them dominating her discipline, in a sport that has long been the prerogative of whites, says Alyssa Roenigk.

Coco Gauff is the most recent example, but before her Serena she has influenced so many young tenniswomen over the past 25 years,

I don't think we realize that.

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In the last interview she gave to the ESPN journalist, Coco Gauff summed up her way of seeing tennis as follows: “Serena, Venus, Serena, Venus, Serena”.

She has never really watched any games other than those of Serena and her sister.

“She is the reason why I play tennis,” she repeated after the announcement of her future retirement.

And the reason why she didn't give up, when her parents doubted her desire for a career after a loss without a fight against a player ranked beyond the top 300 (6-1, 6-1).

The rest is Aylssa Koenigk who writes: “Candi (her mother) asked her to think of the best players.

To think about Serena.

Does she stop running with each lost point?

Does she stop believing that she can win, even when faced with a match point for the opponent?

"Nope,

Coco told him.

Never.” It clicked. From that moment on, it was like… Boom!”

“The more important the moment, the higher it rises”

Rick Macci nods: “On the field, Serena never gave up, and that's not given to everyone at that age.

Beyond his tennis qualities, his power, his service, his game intelligence, it was his state of mind that made the difference.

The more important the moment, the higher it rises.

On the court, something lights up in her presence, the way she has to express this rage, her emotions, she does not hide, she is true and I think that is also why people , especially women and young girls, identify with it and are inspired by it.

But this fascination goes far beyond tennis.

"When Coco explains that she shaped herself through Serena, she's not just talking about her backhand or her serve," Roenigk continues.

She talks about her way of becoming the spokesperson for minorities, her fights against racial and social injustice, police violence, for the civil rights of the African-American community, women's rights, etc.

She sees in her a powerful woman who does not limit herself to marking the history of her sport but who wants to change the world.

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Anti-Racism and Boycott of Indian Wells

Black woman in a world of white men, Serena Williams very quickly understood the power that her notoriety gave her.

And she used it happily.

Long before the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, she had publicly spoken out against this annoying tendency of American police officers to be trigger-happy in the face of people who were a little too tanned for their taste.

“As Martin Luther King said: There comes a time when silence is betrayal.

I will not remain silent, ”she promised in a Facebook post after the death of Philando Castile in 2016, an African-American shot dead by police after a banal traffic check.

The fight against racism has always been one of his hobbyhorses, even if it means sacrificing part of his career, as during his boycott of Indian Wells.

Taken in dislike by the public during the final against Kim Clijsters in 2001 and convinced of being a victim of racism from part of the public, Serena will snub the tournament for 14 long years.

“If you believe in something, you have to fight for it and not make any concessions on your fundamental principles.

This decision came from the heart, they fought for what they believed in and I think it's strong.

A lot of players only play for the money or the glory, not Serena,” Macci applauded.

"She has the fire in her, it's only the beginning"

Her testimony after her second difficult delivery (followed by a pulmonary embolism which could have cost her her life) to denounce the discrimination suffered by black women in the United States (three times more likely to die than white women during the pregnancy according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) will have done much to further the cause.

Just like her fight so that players can benefit after giving birth from their pre-pregnancy ranking when designating the seeds in tournaments, after Roland-Garros decided in 2018 not to grant her this right, she who had then fallen to 451st in the world after her sixteen-month hiatus.

In the wake of his rant, the WTA changed the rules.

“The authorities have not always been attentive to this complaint, underlines the American journalist.

But when it's Serena talking, we listen.

Her voice carries more than others and thanks to her the players who would like to have children during their career will now be able to do so without fear of putting their career in danger.

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We all transform.

Withdrawal?

I prefer forever evolving.

@SerenaVentures https://t.co/m1i3uYd31Z

— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) August 15, 2022

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That's it Serena.

And so many more things.

We could tell you about the extension of her struggles in her way of doing business, always favoring projects in accordance with her principles, but let's take inspiration from her and know how to stop at the right time.

Anyway, this end clap is not necessarily one.

As she writes in

, to the word retirement she prefers a more “modern” one, that of evolution.

Engaged in 1001 projects (fashion, business, education, sport of course), we haven't finished hearing about her.

And Rick Macci concludes: “Without tennis, she will have more time to devote herself to everything else.

I am convinced that her voice will carry even more, that she will engage even more, that she will make a lot of things happen in society.

She has the fire in her, this is just the beginning”.

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• Tennis

• Serena Williams

• U.S. Open

• Black Lives Matter

• Feminism

• Sport