Serena Williams' US Open finale is a fairy-tale ending for tennis' greatest-ever champion

• Serena Williams lost her third-round US Open match to World No. 46 Ajla Tomljanović Friday night.
• The loss almost certainly marks the final match of the 23-time Grand Slam champion's unrivaled career.

NEW YORK — Serena Williams' storybook tennis career has come to a close.

Despite losing a 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 1-6 decision to World No. 46 Ajla Tomljanović in the third round of her final US Open, Williams enjoyed a fairy-tale farewell on the same court where she won the first of her Open Era-record 23 total Grand Slams two decades earlier.

After relinquishing an early lead — and a chance to close things out on her own serve — in the first set of her grueling three-set match against Tomljanović, the 23-time Grand Slam champion hit back hard to win four consecutive games to open the second set and once again pull herself into the match.

But Tomljanović refused to surrender her advantage without a fight. The Australian broke back in the fifth game, then held her next serve to chip away at the gap.

She forced a second-set tiebreak, putting Williams' career on the line. But the greatest winner in tennis history fought for her life — or at least the life of Serena as we've always known her — and won the battle, 7-4.

She looked to be carrying that momentum forward, breaking Tomljanović's serve to steal the first game of the decisive third set. But the fiesty Aussie — who brought out some of her best tennis under the bright lights — broke right back to even the score.

Tomljanović held, broke Williams' serve after a 12-point fight, then held again to take a 4-1 lead. Williams' chances were slipping away.

Though the roof was open on the crisp and clear early-September night, all of the air seemingly vacated the sold-out stadium; Arthur Ashe deflated like a balloon.

The crowd rallied behind Williams as she looked to find her footing, but Tomljanović broke her serve once more, all but sealing the legend's fate. Fans rose to their feet, cheering and applauding ahead of the final game — both in a last-ditch attempt to carry Williams to victory and to acknowledge the significance of an era's end.

But all fairytales come to a close. Even the fairytale of Serena Williams — "a little Black girl who just wanted to play tennis" and changed the sport along the way.

After a remarkable 22-point final game in which she saved a whopping five match points, Williams finally succumbed to Tomljanović's unrelenting fight. And even that she did on her own terms — an unforced error proving her downfall.

One last signature twirl as Tina Turner's "The Best" reverberated across the arena. And through tears — "happy tears," she insisted — she thanked her loved ones and her fans for the ride of a lifetime.

The week-long celebration in front of adoring, record-breaking crowds — prolonged by an improbable run past several formidable opponents ranked well above her — was a brilliant conclusion for the 40-year-old, whose six singles titles at Flushing Meadows are tied for the most all-time in the Open Era.

But the revertential atmosphere at Arthur Ashe Stadium throughout her five-day swan song was a far cry from Williams' initial reception within the upper echelons of tennis society — making her profound, emotional goodbye at one of her sport's most prestigious events all the more extraordinary.

The overwhelmingly white tennis ecosystem was not welcoming to its future GOAT — or her incredibly talented older sister

In the first-person Vogue essay within which she announced her retirement, Williams described her eventual final match as "the end of a story that started in Compton, California, with a little Black girl who just wanted to play tennis."

She and Venus — a future seven-time Grand Slam champion in her own right — embraced a sport with few stars who shared their background. When they were 9 and 10 years old, respectively, the Williamses moved to Florida — a decision spurred by father Richard's desire to further his girls' tennis opportunities.

Despite the judgmental glances at their hair and derogatory whispers from opponents' parents, the budding stars forged on. And even when they started playing professionally — quickly toppling the best in the sport with a hard-hitting, net-pressuring brand of tennis that took the institution by storm — the Williams sisters faced pushback nearly everywhere they went.

The most infamous incident took place at Indian Wells in 2001, where the crowd inundated Serena, Venus, and Richard with boos and racist slurs after the elder sister pulled out of the tournament with an injury mere minutes before she was set to play.

Though the Southern California-based event is almost certainly the most blatant instance of racism the family faced publicly, it was far from the only.

The US Open is no exception

In a recent interview on Meghan Markle's podcast, "Archetypes," Serena plainly acknowledged that her home Grand Slam has been the site of several painful memories, as well as some of her greatest feats.

"I've had a lot of bad experiences in New York — in particular in New York," Williams said. "At the Open, it's been hard."

In her first trip to Flushing Meadows, a 16-year-old Serena fell to Irina Spirlea in the third round, just one year after the Romanian not-so-subtly chest-bumped Venus during the tournament's semifinal.

Serena recalled the time she went up against fellow American star Jennifer Capriati in the 2004 US Open final; Williams watched helplessly as the umpire called out several of her shots that were unquestionably "in." Williams told Markle that experience was "the reason Hawk-Eye became a thing — because they were calling my balls out and they weren't even close to the line."

She had another incident — this time involving a heated verbal exchange with a line judge — five years later. And in 2011, after skipping the tournament for a year, she was charged with a "hindrance" for shouting in the heat of play.

And then, of course, came 2018. En route to a loss against then-upstart Naomi Osaka, Williams earned a coaching violation from chair umpire Carlos Ramos. She grew increasingly frustrated and, eventually, smashed her racket on the court to elicit another violation. A third came when she called Ramos a "thief" for handing down a point penalty. She was later fined $17,000.

The incident sparked debate about the apparent double standard women face for on-court behavior that is often tolerated in men's tennis, an issue Williams has continued to point out.

"It just wasn't one thing," Williams said on the podcast. "The reason I have trauma from it is because it's been five things or more."

Williams' fairy-tale farewell from Flushing Meadows stood in direct contrast with her thorny history at the tournament

Overcoming bias based on her race and her gender is an incredible, crucial part of Williams' story. Her tenacity has paved the way for the Naomi Osakas and Coco Gauffs of the world to find a foothold in tennis — and to never "settle for less" along the way, as the latter explained ahead of the tournament.

"I feel grateful that I can have that impact," Williams said after her win Monday night. "I never thought I would have that impact, ever. I was just a girl trying to play tennis in a time where I could develop this impact and be a voice."

That said, when it comes to her legacy of blazing a trail for other Black women in tennis, Williams conceded, "I understand it, but I don't really meditate or think about it."

In the end, though, Williams will be remembered for her greatness — and not the obstacles that threatened it.

This week's swan song was proof.

Williams' three matches at the US Open — complete with celebrity-laden crowds at Arthur Ashe Stadium, GOAT-lined walls and video tributes narrated by Oprah Winfrey, and an overwhelming air of gratitude from the audience with every single shot she took — was exclusively a celebration of a bona fide legend and her historic tenure atop tennis' highest throne.

A fitting farewell for the Queen of Queens.