Frances Tiafoe, Coco Gauff poised to carry Serena Williams' legacy forward: USTA

Serena Williams and ended with proof of her legacy for Black athletes, USTA player development head Martin Blackman told Reuters. Williams, who collected her first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open in 1999, took her final bow at Flushing Meadows having announced that she would be "evolving away" from the sport sometime after the year's final major.

While Williams was unable to add to her 23 Grand Slam titles, going out in the third round, her legacy was carried into the second week by Frances Tiafoe. 'Big Foe' became the first Black American man to reach the U.S. Open semi-finals since Arthur Ashe in 1972, losing to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz, and Blackman said this year's tournament would be regarded as an "inflection point".

"This Open, a lot of it has been about connecting the dots," said Blackman. "There's certain inflection points: '99 was one of them, '75 when Arthur won Wimbledon was one of them ... We're going to look back on this one as one of them as well." Tiafoe was the first American man to reach the semi-finals at New York since Andy Roddick in 2006, and he said he took pride in the impact he was having on the sport.

"At the end of the day I love that because of Frances Tiafoe there is a lot of people of colour playing tennis," he told reporters. "That's obviously a goal for me. "That's why I'm out here trying pretty hard." A record 776,120 fans watched the main draw at the U.S.