LeBron James supported Serena Williams from home as she reached the third round of the US Open in a truly hilarious manner. The basketball legend watched his fellow sporting great defeat second seed Anett Kontaveit 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-2 in front of a raucous Arthur Ashe crowd.
In a clip uploaded to his Instagram story, as the match came to an end the four-time NBA champion proceeded to bleat like a goat at the TV screen, referencing Serena Williams as the GOAT, an acronym for the greatest of all time. The LA Lakers star said: “GOAT talk! GOAT talk! I see you Serena, GOAT talk!”, and captioned the clip “@serenawilliams, keep going!”
Set to retire after the ongoing US Open, Williams’ tennis career is still very much alive after registering a performance that’s easily her best of the year to defeat the Estonian. The dream ending – a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title in her final tournament – is still a long way away, but this performance showed that it might just be a possibility.
Her home crowd, including big names like Tiger Woods, Spike Lee, Lala Anthony and Zendaya, willed the legend on as she reminded them why she is regarded as tennis’ greatest player. “It’s no rush here,” said Williams, post-match, who has won 23 of her past 25 matches against opponents ranked in the top two, including eight in a row.
“I’m loving this crowd. There’s still a little left in me. We’ll see. I’m a pretty good player, this is what I do best. I love a challenge and I’m rising to the challenge. I haven’t played many matches, but I’ve been practising really well. The last couple of matches it’s come together. After I lost the second set I thought, ‘I’ve got to give my best effort because this could be it’.
“I’m just looking at it as a bonus. I don’t have anything to lose. I’ve had an X on my back since 1999. I really enjoy just coming out and enjoying it.” Williams has praised the influence of Tiger Woods as she revealed the golf icon persuaded her to return to action before retiring.
On Wednesday, the 40-year-old said: “He’s one of the reasons I’m here, one of the main reasons I’m still playing. We talked a lot. He was really trying to get me motivated.
“There’s a few people, but we were like, ‘OK, we can do this together’. It was good, because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was just lost, so many questions.
“When you can rely on someone like that – I mean, my goodness, he’s Tiger Woods – it was really helpful to get clarity.” Williams will face Australia's Ajla Tomljanović in round three for a spot in the last 16.
