It has been an emotional, roller-coaster journey for American tennis fans at this year’s US Open. The tournament saw one of the country’s greatest sportspersons ever, Serena Williams, bidding adieu to tennis. Further, in the men’s section, Frances Tiafoe ended a long drought as he defeated Andrey Rublev to enter his maiden Grand Slam semi-final.

Williams gave everything that she could during the last tournament of her career. En route to her third-round exit, she even knocked out the second seed, Anett Kontaveit. However, she couldn’t overcome the challenge of Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round. Despite this defeat, Williams gave the home crowd many moments to cherish. Recently, Naomi Osaka’s sister, Mari Osaka thanked Serena Williams for being an inspiration.

Naomi Osaka’s sister talks about Serena Williams

Mari Osaka took to Instagram to share an image of the 23-time Grand Slam champion with the words, ‘We can do it!’ written in it. Additionally, in the caption, she mentioned, “Thank you @serenawilliams It feels like there’s not much hope for the future these days but watching you play, and how so many people came together to cheer you on was incredible.”

Further, she went on to add, “Not much brings people together like sport does and in a world just full of hate, you are inspiring.”

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Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka had a contrasting US Open campaign to Williams. She lost in the first round of the tournament, going down against Danielle Collins of the United States in straight sets.

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Serena’s last match creates a unique record

The American legend’s third-round defeat at the 2022 US Open became the most-watched tennis match in ESPN’s history. It surpassed the previous record held by the 2012 Wimbledon Championships final match between Roger Federer and Andy Murray, which the former won.

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Moreover, Serena Williams‘ presence has also helped to boost ticket sales at the US Open this year. Owing to an increase in the demand for tickets, there was a surge in its prices and ticket sales, even after the great had bowed out of the tournament.