Serena Williams redefined greatness. For that, she stands alone. Fiercely alone.

On Friday, as Serena went down 5-7, 7-6, 1-6 to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic at the US Open, in the last singles match of her career, she provided yet another reminder of that enduring legacy. The most appropriate word to define Serena Williams, and all that she achieved, would be fierce.

She is fiercely competitive, so much so that even in the final match of her career, she refused to bow down. After three hard-fought sets, Serena was down 1-5 as Tomljanovic served for the match, and there was a long way back. But true to form, the American would go on to save four match points in trying to salvage it, in one of the greatest single games ever played on the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Across her career, as hard as it may have seemed, Serena could be beaten on talent. She could be beaten on greater serve speeds, or on cleaner ball-striking. But never on fight. Never on trying, or competing.

She is fiercely defiant. In the way of gendered and racist stereotypes. In the way of the racially loaded manner in which her appearance was discussed – on the back pages of newspapers and in living rooms across the world. In the way of the criticism she received for being too aggressive on court, too assertive of her dominance, too expressive in her disappointment; all while her male counterparts got away with a lot worse.

In the way of the limitations of her physicality, winning the Australian Open in 2017 while 9 weeks pregnant and later returning on tour to reach three Grand Slam finals despite a complication in her pregnancy causing a pulmonary embolism – the second she had suffered in eight years.

Major memories made across the 🌎@AustralianOpen | @RolandGarros | @Wimbledon | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/aF6tmMBA3B

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2022

She is fiercely original. In her on and off-court choices. Despite the stereotypes around her appearance, Serena embraced it and promoted young black girls across the world to do so too. Her fashion choices and tennis outfits always raised eyebrows among conservatives and traditionalists, but in fighting for women to be able to wear what they want on court, Serena shed light on a hugely significant issue.

In 2018, Williams’ choice to play in a catsuit after blood clots during her pregnancy continued to affect her, was banned and looked down upon by authorities. America’s Madison Brengle told Eurosport that choice saved her career. “She changed the rules for us, allowing us to play in pants. I had Melanoma and I wouldn’t be able to play anymore if I couldn’t wear pants.”

While most athletes and tennis players will go out by sounding out the drum roll and initiating a big farewell – there’s one coming soon from a certain Swiss – but Serena claimed she will be “evolving from tennis” in a Vogue article she wrote announcing her retirement. Rather than going into long essays of gratitude, she shed light on how she is being made to choose between having a family and continuing her tennis career. Perhaps fitting that it came in Vogue rather than a sports publication or in an interview with a favourable journalist, or an even drabber carefully-worded social media update.

She is fiercely loyal. To her family whom she credits for much of her success. To her daughter whom she said is a big reason why she made the decision to hang up her racquet. To her sister under whose shadow she arrived on tour – Venus dominated the pair’s early rivalry, she came on tour first, jumped up the rankings first, and was regarded as the more talented player – but whom Serena never stopped admiring. To her culture, which she promoted in her on-court outfits, in music videos, and on runways of fashion shows. To her causes, for which she earlier advocated, and later supported. Today, 80% of the business that her venture capital firm invests in are black-owned or owned by women.

In fighting the battles she fought, in facing the criticism she faced, in representing her culture, gender, and race, in introducing a new brand of tennis alongside Venus – with powerful serves and baseline aggression – that became the norm on the women’s tour, Serena redefined what it meant to be a great athlete. Her legacy will never come down to how many titles she won, but in the path she forged for those that came up with and after her. Ask Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, Sloane Stephens, or Maria Sharapova. Or Lewis Hamilton, Tiger Woods, or Allyson Felix.

In a now infamous interview from 1992, Serena was asked whom she would want to emulate if she became a tennis player. “I would want other people to be like me,” she replied, with a huge smile on her face. She was 11 years old at the time. In the aftermath of what was the final singles match of her career, 30 years later, it is fair to say she succeeded.