The Serena Show has not been canceled yet. She’ll see you Wednesday night, same place. 

Serena Williams’ singles career lives on for another two days. Monday’s rollicking Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd of 24,000 didn’t disappoint in its thunderous support and neither did Williams. 

“The crowd was crazy,” Williams said in her post-match interview. “Really helped pull me through.” 

The 40-year-old South Florida retiree shook off an erratic serve early on and prevailed 6-3, 6-3 over 80th-ranked Danka Kovinic on a humid Flushing evening. 

Williams, who lost in the first round of Wimbledon, will face No. 2 seed Anett Koveneit in the second round in what will be a much-stronger test. The atmosphere was nearly unprecedented with thousands parked outside the stadium watching on the big screen. 

The post-match retirement ceremony featured Gayle King as host, Billie Jean King with a toast and Oprah Winfrey narrating a video. When Serena took the microphone, the Compton legend said, “It’s been such a hard decision. When you’re passionate about something it’s hard to walk away. It’s harder to walk away than not. I feel now’s the time. I have a family. There’s other chapters in life. I called it an evolution. It’s Serena 2.0.’’ 

Williams’ entrance was grand theater. She received a thunderous standing ovation after a four-minute marathon introduction that commemorated her retirement and touted her “The Greatest of All Time.” Then she stepped onto the court but didn’t acknowledge the wave of noise, staying poker-faced. 

Williams said that was the night’s highlight. 

“The reception was really overwhelming. It was loud and I could feel it in my chest,’’ Williams said at the press conference. “It was a really good feeling. It’s a feeling I’ll never forget. 

“I was just thinking, like, ‘Is this for real? Really?’ At the same time I’m also thinking, ‘I still have a match to play and I want to be able to play up to this reception.’ It was so loud. I just was overwhelmed but at the same time it’s like you have to be laser focused.That’s what I needed to do and that’s what I tried to do.” 

Her outfit made the bigger statement as she donned a black, studded, sparkling cape with diamond-studded sneakers. She played the match in a shiny black tennis dress — typical of her flamboyant career. Spike Lee was part of the ritual mid-court coin flip to determine serve. 

Despite being broken twice in the first set, Williams rallied from a 3-2 deficit to string together four straight games. She won the first stanza 6-3, then plowed through the outclassed player from Montenegro with a polished second set. 

Williams moved better than in her last three disappointing tournaments, buoyed by the electric crowd that stuck around for the post-match farewell ceremony. 

In refusing to talk about her next foe, Williams said, “It’s good that I was able to get this under my belt. I’m just thinking about just this moment. I think it’s good for me just to live in the moment now.’’ 

A nervous Williams fought off two break points in the first game to hold, closing out the first set with two aces and a service winner. But a lot of her service games were an adventure as she faced 10 break points against the plugger from Montenegro who hasn’t won a match since the French Open.. 

Williams fell down a double-break point in the match’s opening game but scrambled back from 15-40 to go up 1-0. 

Then she broke Kovinic to go up 2-0. Fans flew out of their seats, giving Williams a standing ovation after one rocking rally. Williams got in to retrieve a drop shot and put away the point with a bash at the net. 

Then the cheering stopped at 2-0 for a while. Kovinic reeled off three straight games. Williams hit a double fault on deuce and then bashed a forehand into the net on break point. 

Kovinic held serve, then broke Williams again with Williams pulling a backhand wide, putting Kovinic up 3-2, serving for 4-2. Then Williams roared — with the key point of the match a backhand service return that nipped the baseline for a winner. Kovinic challenged and the replay was good for Serena, who steamrolled and closed out the match’s final game at love. 

While Serena will also play doubles with sister Venus starting Thursday, the days are numbered. 

“I don’t see myself not a part of tennis,” Serena said about retirement. “I don’t know how I’m going to be a part of tennis as of right now. But I just feel like we’ve come too far together to just not have anything to do with it.”