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It Was Anett Kontaveit Against Serena Williams, and the Crowd


Anett Kontaveit stepped out of the first players tunnel, with barely any attention from the audience in the half-filled Arthur Ashe Stadium at the time. She made a small hand-waving gesture, to no one in particular, and then headed toward her chair to prepare for her role as the villain in the biggest tennis event of her life: the Serena Williams US Open.

When Williams appeared beneath thunderous applause just moments later, Kontaveit never looked up or glanced. She just kept strapping her wrists, drinking water and picking her first racquet.

She got up, stepped onto the front court, knowing that for the vast majority of people in the building, she could only be a shield for the tennis queen, no matter what.

“It was her moment,” Kontaveit said. “I tried to do my own thing. Of course, this is all about her and I’m very conscious of that.”

When faced with a tidal wave favors Williams, Kontaveit played her anti-hero as if made from the script, playing well enough to elevate the film, but not well enough to win. Williams played 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2 to advance to the third round, knocking out worthy challenger Estonia and second seed from the US Open.

But Kontaveit didn’t go without recalling some of the best racquets from Williams over the years. She made some excellent shots and served through, but Williams was better at the biggest points, to the satisfaction of 29,959 spectators, a record audience for a US Open night session.

In team sports, athletes frequently encounter hostile environments of 30,000 or more fans. But standing alone in the face of all that passion, energy and aspiration is something different, and Kontaveit has officially given the audience a backing up on the outcome.

“It was really tough,” Kontaveit said of the crowd, adding, “I knew it was coming. I guess you can’t learn from anyone else’s mistakes. Feeling it, it’s something I’ve never experienced before.”

The fans didn’t just cheer when Williams took a point; they shouted encouragement to their heroine throughout the match, shouting: “We love you, Serena,” and “Fighting, Serena,” even at key moments when launching Kontaveit’s service. , this is against the interest of the audience. Several times the presiding referee had to put fans on duty and asked to be quiet while Kontaveit waited.

“They are not against me,” Kontaveit said. “They just wanted Serena to win badly. I don’t think it’s a personal attack against me or anything. It’s fair. She deserves this.”

When the match was over and the players had shaken hands on the net, Kontaveit quickly gathered his racquets and was momentarily back in the locker room, sorting through his emotions after playing one of the great matches. her best of the summer, only to lose to a crowd favorite.

Kontaveit knew in advance what was about to happen. She understands that she will face an onslaught of favors in favor of her opponent, and claims that will relieve her of all expectations and pressure.

The precedent was set on Monday in Williams’ first round straight match win Danka Kovinic of Montenegro. The crowd for that match was so loud, and in a celebratory mood, that Kovinic said she couldn’t hear the ball falling off the strings, an important indication of how the ball might have moved after it Grounding.

Kovinic, ranked 80th, talks about being truly absorbed in the moment herself, being dazzled by the celebrities in attendance that night. For Kontaveit, it’s about the contest, and then she’s not carefree anymore.

Despite taking 2nd place, she had a rough summer, losing three of her last four in tough matches entering the US Open. She said she contracted Covid-19 in April and was having trouble regaining her strength. Her only singles title this year came in St.Petersburg, Russia, in February, but she also made it to the final in Doha, Qatar, later that month.

Kontaveit made it to the fourth round of the US Open on her first attempt in 2015, but has since been inevitably knocked out in the first or second round of a major tournament. It happened 16 times in the 27 majors she’s been in since that run. Her best result at a major tournament was reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open 2020, where she lost to Simona Halep.

She has some experience going deep into the tournament at the US Open. As a student in 2012, she reached the final, losing to Samantha Crawford.

This year, players have commented that the courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center are faster than usual, a factor that tends to enhance the playing styles of both Williams and Kontaveit, as each depends depends on strength. Kontaveit points out that she is all for it.

After early eliminations from the Western and Southern Open outside of Cincinnati, she arrived in New York early and trained on the same courts. The difference was that at that time, almost no one in the stadium was watching. On Wednesday, the entire tennis world was watched.

As Kontaveit said on Monday, “I’m not sure if I’ll ever see something like this again.”

The next player to experience it will be Ajla Tomljanovic, from Australia, who beat Evgeniya Rodina in three sets on Court 7 around the same time Williams and Kontaveit played. Even from that side, Tomljanovic could still hear the noise coming from Ashe, the same noise she would face in person on Friday night.

Tomljanovic said: “I think, Court 7 is not that close. “I kept thinking, ‘Oh, my God, that annoys me and I don’t even play with her.’



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