LeBron James and Simone Biles have led the tributes to Serena Williams, who will now step away from tennis following a third-round defeat at the US Open.

Williams was defeated 7-5 6-7 6-1 by Ajla Tomljanović, who moves on to play Russia's Liudmila Samsonova in the fourth round.

The match is expected to be Williams’s last, with the 23-time Grand Slam winner announcing last month that she would be “evolving away from tennis”.

The 40-year-old was emotional as she spoke to the crowd at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

"I thank everyone that's here, that's been on my side so many years, decades,” Williams said. “Oh my gosh, literally decades”.

"But it all started with my parents. And they deserve everything. So I'm really grateful for them.

"And I wouldn't be Serena if there wasn't [sister] Venus, so thank you, Venus. She's the only reason that Serena Williams ever existed."

The tributes began pouring in after Williams’s defeat, with four-time Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles taking to Twitter to show gratitude.

“Thank you @serenawilliams for transcending sports for black athletes, female athletes and every athlete🤍 such a pleasure to watch, thanks for being an inspiration”.

Basketball star LeBron James posted a video reflecting on Williams’s legacy, with the caption: “#SerenaWilliams THANK YOU 🐐!! You’re so damn DOPE!! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🤎”

Golf legend Tiger Woods was another to pay tribute, writing: “.@serenawilliams you’re literally the greatest on and off the court. Thank you for inspiring all of us to pursue our dreams. I love you little sis!!!!!!”

There were also messages from the non-sporting world, with Michelle Obama posting: "Congrats on an amazing career, @SerenaWilliams! How lucky were we to be able to watch a young girl from Compton grow up to become one of the greatest athletes of all time.

"I'm proud of you, my friend - and I can't wait to see the lives you continue to transform with your talents."

Williams, who retires after winning 856 of her 1,014 matches, played her first professional tournament as a 14-year-old in 1995. She went on to claim 23 Grand Slam titles – only Margaret Court has won more.

The icon now plans to rest and spend time with her daughter Olympia, who was born in 2017.

"It's been really hard on [Olympia], my career,” Williams said. So it will be nice just to do that and spend some time with her, do things that I never really have done or had an opportunity to do.

"I have such a bright future ahead of me. I don't know [exactly what I'll be doing].

"Also I'm kind of at an advantage because Covid happened. I think everyone shut down for a year. We kind of got to see what our lives would be like if we weren't playing tennis.

"Then I got injured last year, so I took off literally a year. So I got to see again what every day would be like to wake up and not have to go to the gym.

"So I don't know. I think I'm definitely probably going to be karaoke-ing."