Serena Williams had been a vulnerable conqueror at this year’s majors, living dangerously and dicing with defeat on numerous occasions as she tried to become only the fourth woman to complete the calendar Grand Slam.
On Friday, her luck finally ran out at the U.S. Open, and on a court where she had not been beaten since 2011.
In her 12th three-set contest of the electrifying 2015 run, Williams met her match in Italian doubles expert Roberta Vinci, who ended the American’s bid for a share of tennis history with a shocking 2-6 6-4 6-4 upset victory in the semi-finals.
Williams, dominating the sport at the ripe old tennis age of 33, had repeated over and over that she felt no pressure in trying to add her name to a list comprised of Maureen Connolly (1953), Margaret Court (1970) and Steffi Graf (1988).
She tried her best to maintain that mantra after her stunning semi-final defeat on an Arthur Ashe Stadium court that had been so kind to her in the past.
“I don’t want to talk about how disappointing it is for me,” Williams said during a tetchy post-match conference during which she repeatedly refused to answer questions.