2022 US Open tennis odds: Serena Williams opens as 50-to-1 longshot but taking heavy action to win final tournament

There's no question that the biggest story line of the 2022 U.S. Open tennis tournament is that it's the swan song for American legend Serena Williams, who is planning to retire afterward. Williams has won the U.S. Open six times, tied with Chris Evert for the most in the Open era. Williams was as low as +1600 at Caesars Sportsbook to win the tournament earlier this month but is now a +5000 long shot. She is taking heavy action, however.

The 40-year-old Serena, ranked 605th in the world, is second in tickets to win at 7.9% (behind world No. 1 and tournament favorite Iga Swiatek at 8.4%) and sixth in handle at 5.3% on U.S. Open futures. She opens play tonight at 7 ET against Montenegro's Danka Kovinic, who is ranked 80th. The two have never met. Kovinic enters on a five-match losing streak overall, not winning a set in any of those outings.

Williams is trying to become only the fourth woman in the Open Era to win matches as a teenager, as well as in their 20s, 30s and 40s at the U.S. Open, joining Martina Navratilova, sister Venus Williams and Kimiko Date.

Should Serena win, she probably would face second-seeded Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in Round 2. They've never played. Kontaveit opens this evening against Romania's Jaqueline Adina Cristian, who hit a career-high ranking of No. 58 earlier this year before suffering a knee injury that has kept her sidelined since February.

Williams hasn't won a Grand Slam event since the 2017 Australian Open and lost in the first round of her only Slam outing this year at Wimbledon. Williams has only played four singles matches in 2022 and is 1-3. Her last U.S. Open title was in 2014. 

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