Aliasim plays the piano before her surprise party, while Maria practices with her daughters

A symbol, a legend, a name is enough to unleash memories and memories, a sky of arms and a flood of smiles. A face, a surname that knows revenge and revenge, who came from the lowest point in life to Dancing with the Stars. Simply put, Serena Williams, the tennis player of the third millennium by far, because as long as physique allowed, the WTA has always identified with her. Listing all the titles would not be enough to portray the greatness of a woman, an athlete who used her talent and notoriety to raise awareness of racial and gender issues. However, there comes a time when you can’t keep the status quo forever, and when you look back and think about the future, you realize that maybe it’s time for the curtain to fall. So, the next day, after her victory over Parrizas-Dias in the first round of the WTA 1000 in Toronto, in Vogue (a fashion magazine, Sharapova, who could be called Serena’s rival, also announced her retirement) Serena Williams called it quits.

Record of over 1000 hits, 23 Grand Slams, consecutive weeks at No. 1 (and more): The American has decided to leave tennis after “his” US Open, to devote himself to the “other life” that athletes often dream of, a family, living full-time. In Vogue (as reported by Gianluca Sartori a few days ago), at the end of a long statement, Serena makes two important messages, two important messages, both about the importance of her husband and her daughter, and about the issue of feminism, a moment of farewell even in this. (The word “retreat” is so harsh that Serena never uses it). Why leave the field, adrenaline is one thing, but to think that such a woman will never stop working for the weak as she has been doing all her life is sheer madness.

But no matter how shocking and shocking the news, It is as unexpected as it is unsurprising. Serena hasn’t been playing consistently in years, and she hasn’t been as good as she used to be, not winning a Grand Slam since the 2017 Australian Open.The actual day that her superpower ended, and that she too returned to reclaim herself as a human, is still farther in time: 11 September 2015, Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing Meadows, New York, the semi-finals of the US Open, one of the brightest in Italian tennis.. Serena Williams, two matches from a Grand Slam, tackles Roberta Vinci, in a game with a predictable ending … but the winds of fate blew differently that day, giving the blue a victory of life, and the first sign that the foundations of an empire were beginning to bear fruit, those stars were slowly becoming more and more subdued. Since then, in fact, Serena has won only two Grand Slams, lost the record, and began a slow decline.

A girl who wanted to live a dream, with an Apulian hand, today, almost 7 years later, she remembers those moments. Gazzetta dello Sport, in a report by Paolo Bardesacchi. “I was ready to go back“says Vinci,”The day before the semi-final I had already called the travel agency for the flight. Serena was No. 1 and played at her home; It was an incredible turnaround after losing the first set. I never gave up. I told myself that I should not be complacent and live the first semi-final at a Grand Slam positively.“. It didn’t seem like it at the time, but today it’s clear that Roberta made a difficult blow to digest a rich career in sports history, which gave the start to a slow end: “We never talked about it, there was no occasion, but that failure marked her so much. He hadn’t played in a while, and he didn’t expect it. For someone like her, it’s one thing to lose Vinci’s account with Sharapova or Azarenka“.

Since that defeat, which landed her among the mere mortals precisely because she lost against a decidedly lower-level player, a lot of water has gone under the bridge to date. Serena is 40 years old, she is a mother, she will give birth to the current n.1 in the world two years after winning her first Grand Slam, with whom many players retired for her victories (mostly defeated). , and his sister Venus may be next. But one thing hasn’t changed, and never will: the love, respect, and admiration that the entire world, tennis and otherwise, showered on a unique player, a fighter who made clay diamonds. Lucky to be able to witness Serena Williams’ exploits live from Saginaw, Michigan.