Ajla Tomljanovic poses with AC Milan shirt: fans in awe!

Serena tries to stay attached to the game, even if she doesn’t immediately take advantage of a 40-0 lead at the start of the second. Despite this, she jumps to 3-0 and takes the game back in hand. Up 4-0, the twenty-three times Grand Slam champion turns off the light again.

Yes, she finds herself at 5-2 but once again she needs to hold on to the tie break to extend the match. Among the screams of a Central Court completely, totally and absolutely at her feet, the American in a legendary way manages to win the decisive game and at least guarantee the third set.

For better or for worse, she continues to play the game, even if she obviously loses precision, lucidity and above all freshness in lateral movements. The Australian tennis player, who continues undaunted to push incredibly, breaks the balance at 2-1 and no longer makes any particular changes to the script.

On the contrary. She jumps to 4-1, she takes advantage of another lame game by Serena who still finds a way to cancel five match points before surrendering to the mocking passage of time. She finishes 7-5 6-7 (4) 6-1 after more than two hours of play, between the surreal silence that anticipates the end and the roar that accompanies the most mocking epilogue.

Any word would be too redundant: the sporting career of the greatest tennis player of all time has simply come to an end. Twenty-three times Grand Slam champion, icon on and off the court, ruler of three different generations and a source of inspiration for tennis of the last twenty-five years.