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NEW YORK (AP) — Someone, of course, will end up in the history books as the final opponent in Serena Williams’ stellar career. It could be Danka Kovinic, a 27-year-old from Montenegro who has the “honour” of being a first-round US Open foe of someone she remembers watching on TV as a child.
Their match – set for Arthur Ashe Stadium at 7pm on Monday night, Day 1 of the Grand Slam this Williams indicated that it will mark her farewell — the first time the two women have shared a court.
Kovinic’s reaction when he heard about the match from his coach: “I was happy; I won’t lie.”
“It’s a privilege to share the court with Serena,” Kovinich said in an interview at Flushing Meadows on Friday. “I really hope I can show my good game. Maybe my best game.”
Their paths have crossed in tour locker rooms over the years, but Kovinich said she never mustered up the courage to ask for a workout together.
“I thought, ‘OK, this is Serena and I’m Danka,'” said the 80-year-old Kovinic, whose best Grand Slam finishes were reaching the third round of the Australian Open in January and the French Open in May. before losing each to a major champion (Iga Svetek in Melbourne; Simona Halep in Paris). “I didn’t feel like I could approach her to ask.”
Other topics are or will be of interest over the next two weeks, from renewed questions about whether it makes sense for women to use slightly different tennis balls than men at Flushing Meadows — the only Grand Slam to do so — to Novak Djokovic absence due to non-vaccination against COVID-19, to Rafael Nadal’s pursuit of a 23rd major title despite a recent recovery from a torn abdominal muscle, until the return of Emma Radukanu at the site of her run from nowhere from qualifier to Slam champion a year ago in New York.
And more and more.
But for now, and especially on Monday, nothing — and no one — in tennis matters as much as Williams.
“Serena is an icon. If I didn’t play with her on Monday, I wouldn’t have all this attention. I’m aware of that,” Kovinich said. “So it’s going to be a very nice experience and at the same time maybe a little bit stressful. Of course I will feel tension. But I will try to turn it into something positive.”
What does he most want to know about Williams’ game?
“Everything,” Kovinich said with a smile. “I know she hits hard, but I don’t know how different it is from the other girls I play.”
Other players can only imagine how those circumstances must feel for Kovinich, who is 2-4 in her career at the US Open – 104 match wins short of 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams, who turns 41 years on September 26.
“It’s tough,” said Caroline Garcia, who is seeded 17th and could meet Williams if both reach the semifinals. “Danka knows she’s going to go out on the court with anyone against her. When Serena played in the past, the atmosphere was already electrifying, so I can’t imagine what it will be like there now.”
Garcia is coming off a title last week in Cincinnati, where Williams lost her first match 6-4, 6-0 to Radukanu.
“I couldn’t think about who was on the other side of the court because I knew as soon as I thought about it, my mind would probably start going,” Radukanu said of the Williams match. “So I just had to take it, watch the ball, not think about anything else.”
Kovinich says he usually tries to worry only about himself and his tactics, not what’s happening on the other side of the net.
No matter who is on the other side of the net.
This time may be a little different.
“It’s like: I know what to expect,” said Kovinic, the only woman to win a Grand Slam match while representing Montenegro. “And at the same time, I don’t know what to expect.”
Fans who attend the game or watch on TV “don’t know much about me,” Kovinich said.
So she offered a bit of a scouting report: Like Williams — well, maybe not quite like Williams, Kovinich said with a laugh — she relies on a big first serve. She can win points with her forehand. She mixes spins.
Her biggest win probably came against Radukanu in Australia this year.
“She was really, really solid, standing with you, counter punching. Then, once you drop short after a long rally, she will attack,” Radukanu said.
Kovinic has never played a match in the Ashes.
He never even hit a ball in the 23,771-capacity stadium, the Slam’s biggest stage, although he had hoped to get the chance to practice there on the weekend. She ventured inside more than a decade ago as a teenager in the junior competition to sit at the top of the stands and watch Kim Clijsters play.
“It was spectacular,” she said. “From above, the court looks so small. I imagine it will be a completely different feeling when I get on the ground down there.”
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More AP coverage of US Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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