Before Ajla Tomljanovic took her place opposite Serena Williams in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night at the US Open, her dad offered her some advice. After all, it's not every day that your daughter gets to face the greatest player of all time on the biggest tennis court in the world—with the specter of that legend's imminent departure from professional sport looming in the background.
Ratko Tomljanovic, a former handball player who's been key in Ajla and her elder sister Hana's tennis endeavors since childhood, kept it simple.
"My dad wanted to emphasize the fact that it's Serena's moment, but he wanted to make me aware that for me, it should be my moment, what it's going to mean to me, just to focus on that. I should completely try to enjoy myself as much as I can because it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Over 3 hours and 5 minutes, the 29-year-old Tomljanovic took that opportunity. She defeated the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1 to reach the fourth round of the US Open for the first time in her career, and with it, likely send Williams into the next chapter of her life: She has indictated, for all intents and purposes, that this US Open is the last event of her professional tennis career.
In front of a sold-out crowd in Ashe—some of the 72,039 fans who came through the gates on Friday, an all-time single-day attendance record for the US Open—the Croatian-born Australian played some of her best tennis. She came from 5-3 down in the first set to win it, and stood tall in the face of Williams' last stand. Tomljanovic needed six match points to close out victory, finally holding serve in a titantic final game of eight deuces.
She did all that in the face of a partisan packed house, one that so firmly and raucously wanted Williams' last dance to continue on. To borrow an old term made famous in basketball: New Yorkers were the third woman—one that Williams saluted with gratitude amongst a litany of others, including her parents and sister Venus Williams, in an emotional post-match speech.
"I would be cheering for Serena, too, if I wasn't playing her. But it was definitely not easy," Tomljanovic, who hit 32 winners and broke WIlliams' vaunted serve eight times, said later. "I'd say the biggest thing was just to block out all the noise. ... It's just another tennis match for me. I'm happy to be in the third round and have a great opportunity to play on Arthur Ashe. It's what I dreamed of when I was a kid. Just not make it bigger than it is because everyone else already made it huge.
"During the match, I was so eager to win. I wanted to win as much as the next person because I didn't look at her like, 'Oh, Serena, her last tournament.' But then when it ended, it almost didn't feel right.
"When she started talking about her family and everything, I got emotional because I can relate to having a strong bond with your family. When she said that she wouldn't be there if it wasn't for them, I relate to that a lot. Just the whole moment after was just tough to handle a little bit."
Coming into Friday's match, Tomljanovic called the opportunity to face Williams "surreal." Now, the reality of reaching her third career Grand Slam quarterfinal is right in front of her. She next faces Liudmila Samsonova, the world No. 35 who's won 13 straight matches and 18 straight sets; the 23-year-old won WTA singles titles in Washington, D.C. and Cleveland before adding three wins here.
Tomljanovic says she's not satisfied with getting this far. (And on the prospect of being the answer to a bar trivia question, she quipped: "No one's going to pronounce my name right.") Instead, she says, she wants to embody everything Williams stood for in her career, and let it spur her further on.
"Growing up I didn't really have idols, but Serena and Venus were just so good that I looked up to them the most, I'd say," she said. "What always drew me to them was their bond with their family, like the togetherness. They always spoke about that, like it was so important to them. I can relate to that because I'm very close to my family and I wouldn't be where I am without them.
"From a young age, I remember seeing them with their dad and thinking that's kind of like my story a little bit. Just the fact that you don't have to have anything other than supportive family, a dream, and just will and passion and love for the game to make it. Not just make it, but what she's achieved is absolutely incredible. I don't know if it's ever going to be repeated while I'm still around.
"I still have years left in me. I want to dream bigger than I have so far because that's what she embodies."
