Advantage, Mrs. Williams | The Press

The United States Open began in New York on August 23. I like to say it’s the rock concert of tennis tournaments. And the undisputed rockstar this year, like many times before, is Serena Williams. What a prelude to the US Open for the one who has her name engraved on 23 Grand Slam trophies and knocks on the door of a 24^e title, the record held by Margaret Court.

First, there was the announcement of his post-tennis development. In an essay she signed that appeared in the magazine vogue issue of September — always the most important issue of the year — she refuses to talk about retirement. Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t like the word. Beyond the semantics, this US Open – place of his first Grand Slam victory in 1999 at the age of 17 – will be his last tournament. I tear up as I write the words. For me, it’s like a breakup.

And between two training sessions, a few days ago, Serena Williams went to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, ceremonial gavel in hand, to ring the famous bell of the institution. M^me Williams was right at home among currency traders and managers of large portfolios. She is co-founder of the Serena Ventures investment fund. The fund was recently at US$111 million raised and more than 60 investments. Serena Williams aims to support start-ups led by people with diverse viewpoints. In an interview, she repeated a number that many of us know all too well: less than 2% of mutual funds are invested in start-ups led by women. It’s a percentage that Serena Williams wants to change.

It will not be her first mold breaking. Together with her big sister Venus, Serena Williams revolutionized tennis and the image of the sport forever, shaking up those for whom the status quo was fine.

Everything that was different about the Williams sisters bothered. First it was the hair. Braids, what a scandal! Then it was the beads in the hair. Then it was the roars during the services and the fist pump, held up in celebration. And, the piece de resistance of critics, those on their bodies and clothing choices.

There is a parallel to be made with Hillary Clinton. When M^me Clinton came to the political scene when her husband was running for governor of Arkansas in the late 1970s, everything that made her a new kind of politician’s wife was criticized. Why does she keep her maiden name? Why is she still a lawyer in a large law firm? Why his ugly frames of glasses? Why isn’t it more elegant? While the real question, the really inconvenient one, was why does Hillary Clinton interfere so much in her husband’s campaign and, more importantly, why does she want to change things?

But the parallel ends there because Hillary Rodham became Hillary Clinton, she stopped practicing law, changed her style of dress and started wearing contact lenses. Venus and Serena, they did not give in, knowing very well that the adjustments had to be ours and not theirs.

Many media will take time to understand this – like those who confused Venus and Serena, for example. Besides, how many of them once confused John and Patrick McEnroe? Or the others, always in a hurry to qualify Serena Williams and her game as aggressive and to accompany the articles with the worst photos of her, to support this false image.

Serena’s game is not aggressive. It is powerful and effective. So many players on the circuit have copied it.

But today, the multidisciplinary success of Serena Williams relies, in large part, on the media. Over time, many of them have been good to her, and she to them. For example, according to Nielsen figures, over the years when Serena Williams reached the US Open finals, the ratings were much higher. This test in vogue ? With the photos, it is eight pages in the paper version of the magazine. We bet it will be their best seller of the year.

On the list Forbes of the highest paid athletes this year, Serena Williams is the only woman, with Naomi Osaka, to find herself in the list of top 50. It is mainly her agreements with various brands and her investments and interests beyond tennis that make Serena Williams’ annual holdings just over 45 million US dollars and her personal fortune reaching a quarter of billion dollars. The legacy of Serena Williams, it is also there. By transcending tennis and not putting all your balls in one basket – a strategy criticized in particular by the great Chris Evert in the magazine TIME a few years ago — Serena Williams ensured the longevity of her dominance. Long after she leaves the tennis courts, she will be just as influential. Serena knows her value and she knows how to maximize it. Above all else, it is certainly this and the freedom that comes with it that has most troubled Williams’ critics.

This Monday night at the US Open, she will face Danka Kovinic, 80^e racket of the world. I don’t know if she’ll win that first singles match, but all sorts of scores show that Serena Williams has already won.