NEW YORK -- It was late in this US Open semifinal match, and once again, the lopsided nature of Serena Williams résumé versus her opponents didnt matter. Same as it didnt save Williams in four of her past five Grand Slam losses before this. This time, Williams tormentor wasnt her Australian Open conqueror Angelique Kerber, or Spanish upstart Garbine Muguruza, who surprised her in this years French Open final. It wasnt even a wily veteran like Roberta Vinci, who derailed Williams run at a calendar-year Grand Slam on this same court a year ago with arguably the most monumental upset in tennis history.Thursday night on the floor of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the new predicament Williams found herself in was a win-or-go-home tiebreaker against 24-year-old Karolina Pliskova, a 10th-seeded but largely unproven Czech. Williams was faced with the unenviable chore of trying to survive against the most prolific ace machine on tour. This while playing with an aching left knee -- a new ailment that only a few insiders knew that she had until after the match, which ended ingloriously for her with a double fault that sealed Pliskovas stunning 6-2, 7-6 (5) win.Just like that, all the history Williams was chasing -- a tie with Chris Evert for the record of seven US Open titles, a chance to break her tie with Steffi Graf at 22 majors, most in the Open era -- was put off for another day. When Williams wakes up Monday morning, she also officially wont be ranked No. 1 (Kerber will) leaving Williams forever moored in a tie with Graf for most consecutive weeks in the top spot, with 186.Im not talking about No. 1, thank you, Williams said during an occasionally terse news conference in which she allowed that her knee mightve contributed to the loss. Williams, though, hotly disputed fatigue from her three-set win over Simona Halep a day earlier was a factor.For Williams, who turns 35 on Sept. 26, the defeat nonetheless continued a troubling trend. By any measure -- the statistics, the anecdotal evidence, the way she has dominated tennis for two decades now -- Williams is the greatest player in tennis history, bar none. Theres no need to confine the praise to only the womens side of the sport.Including last months Rio Olympics, where Williams was sent crashing out in the third round by Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, what has been astonishing isnt just who Williams has lost to in the biggest moments the past year -- its how she has been losing. Even when her body hasnt betrayed her, as it did in the past month, nerves seem to haunt her. Her confidence seems more brittle than youd expect, given all that she has done. Errors come in bunches. Opponents are rushing in to capitalize.Williams has now lost four of her past five major tournaments to players that she had a combined career record of 18-2 against before she lost to them.Players still deeply respect Williams. But other than her win against Kerber for the Wimbledon title, Williams just doesnt project the same self-assurance or strike the same off-the-charts fear into her opponents that she used to. And Muguruza had no problem saying that out loud after her French Open title win, telling reporters that players are seeing that Williams is more beatable now.Of course, Muguruza hasnt personally been able to build on her breakthrough win. She has fallen into the same struggles that Kerber admittedly did after she won her first Slam title. But still other players have performed like they agree with the Spaniard -- playing Williams doesnt spark the same feeling of inevitability it used to. Other players just seem to see a little daylight now against Williams, where before, they saw little to none.Romanias Halep said as much, too, after very nearly beating Williams in their three-set dogfight on Wednesday night. Afterward, she rued her failure to break Williams in the first game of the final set, saying if shed done that then, the ending wouldve been a different story.Pliskova played like one of the new believers, too. Williams is generally thought to have the greatest serve in the history of the game, but Pliskovas serve and return games were both better than Serenas on Thursday night.And the thing is, Pliskova had never even been past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament until this giant-killing 11-match summer winning streak shes on, which also included a win over Serenas sister, Venus, earlier in this tournament. With the victory, Pliskova became only the fourth player to beat both William sisters at the same Slam, joining Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.I said I dont believe it -- but actually, I do believe [I won], Pliskova said. I always knew I had a chance to beat anyone if Im playing my game.For Serena, who is used to doing the dictating, it was a frustrating night. But she refused to go as far as her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, did and blame this loss on her knee injury. (Mouratoglou said she suffered it against Halep on Wednesday, but Williams said she suffered a few rounds earlier.) The most Williams would allow was being hampered by the knee caused her focus to waver.I was making errors that I never make. So many simple, simple shots that I couldve easily made, she said.Williams has been so extraordinary for so long, any wobble in her play seems like a seismic event. But she has now had four such upsets in her past five Slams. She isnt just blowing these matches; her rivals are going out and taking them.Williams has dug herself out of too many trenches before in her majestic 22-year career to rush to any big conclusions that this is the beginning of her end as the games greatest player. But it has been happening for a year now.And its only natural to wonder. NBA T-shirts From China . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period. Jerseys NBA Cheap . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. http://www.cheapjerseysnba.us/ .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. 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"I worked my entire life for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No. Tensions rose ahead of Saturdays game between LSU and Florida, as a scuffle broke out on the field before the contest.Players and team staff had to be separated near one sideline during warm-ups amid pushing and trash talk between the two sides.The incident started after freshmen cornerbacks Chauncey Gardner (Florida) and Saivion Smith (LSU) started jawing at each other.LSU star running back Leonard Fournette?got involved in the skirmish and shoved Florida defensive backs coach Torrian Gray, accordiing to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.ddddddddddddSaturdays contest is a makeup from the originally scheduled Oct. 8 game in Gainesville, Florida, that was postponed because of Hurricane Matthew.The game was moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as part of the agreement to reschedule, which was a contentious negotiation that included multiple threats to cancel the matchup. 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