Ajla Tomljanovic ended the tennis career of Serena Williams at the 2022 US Open, and she was clearly in a very good mood after the match.
Given that Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, announced last month that she would be "growing away from tennis," it was anticipated that this may be her final match.
In her first two matches at the tournament, Williams managed to beat Danka Kovinic and Anett Kontaveit, to set up a third-round clash with Ajla Tomljanovic, who was always one of the talented players on the WTA Tour.
The Australian herself had a very good run at the event, and she certainly wasn't scared of taking on the legend of the sport in front of a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It was a real fight and a real rollercoaster, not just for Tomljanovic, but also for Williams and the American fans. However, the Australian managed to win that fight, beating the 23-time Grand Slam champion 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1.
Soon after that, she realized that she would be remembered as the last player to beat Williams. With her Croatian background and a quite difficult surname to pronounce for some of the people, Tomljanovic cracked a brilliant joke.
“Well, no one is going to pronounce my name right, so that’s going to suck."
But for Tomljanovic, it's quite a special way of being part of tennis history. No one else can say that they defeated Serena Williams in her last-ever professional match, as this title will always be associated with the Australian, who, however, felt a bit like a villain because of eliminating the player that everyone on the Arthur Ashe Stadium wanted to see win.
"But I don’t think I’ve been part of tennis history, so that’s pretty cool. I do feel a little bit like the villain.”
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