CELEBRITY
Serena Williams puts off retirement with U.S. Open first round win
Serena Williams signalled she is not quite ready for retirement advancing to the second round of the U.S. Open on Monday with a scrappy 6-3 6-3 win over Danka Kovinic.
The victory over the 80th ranked Kovinic, just her second this year, will be a confidence boost for Williams but the path to a record equalling 24th Grand Slam now gets treacherous.
Waiting in the wings is Estonian second seed Anett Kontaveit, who breezed past Jaqueline Cristian 6-3 6-0.
Williams indicated her intention to retire in a Vogue article in early August, saying she was “evolving away from tennis” but never confirming the U.S. Open as her final event.
For tennis fans, however, the message was clear, the U.S. Open would be where she would take her final bow.
Could there be an encore?
The former-world number one has played coy even refusing to rule out next year’s Australia Open.
But in a strange post-match ceremony celebrating her career, which was not yet finished, Williams gave the clearest sign yet that the U.S. Open will indeed be her last tournament and expanded on that later in her press conference.
“It’s extremely difficult still because I absolutely love being out there,” said Williams. “The more tournaments I play, I feel like the more I can belong out there.
“But it’s time for me, you know, to evolve to the next thing.”
Pressed if the U.S. Open was definitely her last event Williams again stepped back from the brink.
“I’ve been pretty vague about it, right,” smiled Williams. “I’m going to stay vague because you never know.”
A montage of Williams career played before she appeared on court that left the door open a crack for a return some day, “if you ever decide to return Queen your throne will be waiting” ended the video.
A defiant Williams, however, made it clear she was not giving up that throne just yet.
SPECIAL ENERGY
There is always excitement on opening night at Flushing Meadows but on Monday the teeming stadium crackled with a special energy from the moment Williams appeared on court decked out in a shimmering black robe and specially designed diamond encrusted shoes.
The outfit may have sparkled more than the 40-year-old American’s play but it did not matter to a jam-packed Arthur Ashe Stadium as Williams’ fighting edge remained razor sharp even if her serve and ground strokes were not.
“It’s so important to give your all,” Williams told the adoring crowd. “I’ve been down and out so many times, in the public eye.
“I just want people to be inspired by my story.
“I’m from Compton, California… and I made it.”
Certainly there was no more fitting place to bring the curtain down on one of tennis’s most phenomenal careers than in a city that has been in her corner from the very beginning, fuelling runs to six U.S. Open crowns.
The magnitude of the moment was not lost on the 23,000 fans, including, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, designer Vera Wang, director Spike Lee and others who packed into Arthur Ashe not expecting to see greatness but to celebrate it.
Having been world number one for 319 weeks, Williams arrived in New York ranked below 600 and unseeded.
Even with Williams far from her best the odds were stacked against the 27-year-old from Montenegro.
Playing in her 21st U.S. Open, Williams has never lost in the first round and her victory over Kovinic was her 106th at Flushing Meadows.
While Kovinic has been enjoying the best Grand Slam season of her career reaching the third round of both the Australian and French Open, she had not won a single match since Roland Garros.
As play got underway it was Williams showing signs of nerves, piling up the double faults as Kovinic got in front 3-2.
But Williams, as she has done so many times, lifted her game when she needed to, sweeping the next four games to snatch the first set.
Now in charge, Williams would not let it slip away in the second set, breaking to go up 3-2, and with match point and the crowd on its feet, she danced in delight as Kovinic’s return hit the net.
-Reuters
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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