Serena

Friday evening, Serena Williams, 40, lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the U.S. Open in what was almost certainly her final tennis match as a professional.  

The owner of 23 Grand Slam titles in singles, Serena has been on a quixotic quest to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam titles since she last won a singles title at the 2017 Australian Open.  Since then, she's had a child, battled injuries, and taken time off from tennis in the midst of what, ultimately, was an unsuccessful quest to tie Margaret Court's longstanding record.  

In the end, though, Serena Williams' impact on women's tennis and, really, women's sport generally, is farther reaching than the 23 Grand Slam singles titles she won over a professional career that spanned more than a quarter century.  From when she won her first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open in 1999 at age 17 to her final match Friday night, Serena blazed a trail for all women to follow.

Outspoken, brash, and unapologetically competitive, Serena pulled women's tennis - kicking and screaming, at times - into the 21st century.  Gone forever were the days when women's tennis took a back seat to the men's game.  Gone also were the days when women's tennis players were demure, understated, and soft spoken in the just happy to be there way preferred by the tennis establishment.  

Serena and to a lesser extent her sister, Venus, took the baton from Billie Jean King, and insisted on being heard on issues important to the women's game, like pay equity in Grand Slam tennis tournaments.  

I have a vivid memory if sitting in my office, downstairs, at 401 Church Street in Franklin, shortly after my partner, Mark, and I had started our law practice there.  As I read the USA Today at my desk, there was a color photograph of Serena and Venus on the front page of the sports section, their hard braided with beads as they wore it in the early days of their careers.  

Serena and Venus were so young then, 16 and 18, if my math is correct.  I was young, too.  Unmarried, no children, starting a new law practice.  Now, it seems, we've grown older, if not old, together.  The Williams' sisters, especially Serena, have been a constant in my life, for more than two decades.  Jude and I have watched, and cheered, as we celebrated their success.  

All of that has come to and end, though, which is the way it works in sports, sadly.  An athlete's youth is not limitless and, in fact, it's rather fleeting.  When it's over, it always seems to have passed by too quickly.  Sports is like life in that regard, I guess.  

When life is over, or nearly over, it seems to have passed by too quickly.