In the Arena: Serena Williams (2024) s01e01 Episode Script

1
[intriguing music playing]
[metallic grinding]
[whirring]
[Serena Williams]
It's lonely at the top.
When you're the best,
no one really talks to you.
They kind of look at you
and want what you have
and know that they'll never get there
as long as I'm there.
At the end of the day,
I wasn't there to make friends.
I was there to win.
-I looked different. I played different.
-[grunting]
I was more emotional.
I was better. I was stronger.
I had muscles.
[commentator] Their ability to overpower
the other women
was hurting the game.
It's in-your-face type of tennis.
They representing Compton.
Like, representing us.
[Serena] I didn't need to blend in.
I needed to be different.
'Cause I was different.
I was something that no one
had ever seen before, ever.
[grunting]
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] Serena Williams was so
dominant that nobody could touch her.
[Serena] I never started out
to have this career.
I never could have dreamed
that I would win
all those numbers.
But, with that being said,
once you start winning,
winning is like a big drug.
[crowd cheering]
It's something that I had
to have and I had to do.
[yells indistinctly]
[crowd cheering]
Every time I did it,
I wanted to do it again.
[yells indistinctly]
And it always feels good.
It never goes away.
Then it becomes
like an expected feeling.
And this is so sad, but
well, I think, "Gosh,
I could have had more wins."
But that's the perfectionist,
that's the athlete,
that's the Serena in me.
[Richard Williams]
These two girls that you see
in the picture here
is our Serena Williams.
Raise your hand, Serena.
Venus Williams.
We want you to see
how good they are at tennis.
So you want to relax,
take it easy, and get a chance
to see some real good
tennis players.
[Serena] When I think back,
I was just a kid
that had big dreams.
Obviously, you can't predict anything,
and you can't predict anyone.
Taking this little kid,
the little sister
from the Williams sisters
from Compton,
can't really take that
too serious, right?
[narrator] Only a few miles
down the sunny freeway
from the glamour of Los Angeles
is Compton, California.
Nobody rich lives here.
Compton is home to street gangs,
like the Crips and the Bloods,
but also to two young girls
who may represent
the future of a sport
not typically associated
with the inner city.
[Serena] This is not normally
how that story goes.
Usually it's a different area,
in particular with tennis,
usually white girls or white men.
So all eyes were on us because
we weren't like anybody else.
The girls learned tennis
from their father,
Richard Williams, on the rough courts
in Compton, California,
near South Central Los Angeles.
[Serena] My dad always said
that he wanted us to play tennis
because he was watching this player.
She won more in a week
than he did all year.
I seen a girl win
a tennis tournament,
and she made more in that tournament
than what I made in a year.
[Serena] Then my dad taught
himself how to play tennis.
He got books,
and he watched videos.
And my mom, Oracene,
was also our coach as well.
A lot of people don't realize
how important my mom was
in developing us as tennis players.
There you go. Be ready.
As soon as it bounces.
There you go. That's the girl.
[Serena] They were our parents,
and there's a very thin line
between parent and coach.
And at times it wasn't great.
[Richard] Back in our face!
Back up in our face, Serena.
Just the one.
[Serena] But I say, at the end,
it was all worth it.
And once people did see,
a lot of people wanted
to watch and kind of see,
"What is this?
Who are these girls?"
[intriguing music playing]
I actually never thought
I was good at tennis.
You have to understand,
I was growing up next to Venus Williams,
who was the prodigy of all prodigies.
She was taller than me,
and she was stronger than me.
And I also was very small for my age.
I was this tiny, little girl
that my whole game
[laughs] was hitting lobs
and drop shots,
and it's nothing like my game today.
I just wasn't strong enough.
So I would hit lob,
and then I'd wait
and I'd move my feet really good,
I'd hit a drop shot.
And my matches would be,
like, two hours. [laughs]
[interviewer] How do you play
against your sister?
Well, when she's at the baseline,
it's easier for me to come closer
to beating her
because I can just hit side to side.
I was like that kind of player that
you just hated playing in juniors.
That was me.
So I never thought about being good.
I never thought about being bad.
I just knew I couldn't beat Venus
unless I cheated.
And I remember [laughs]
cheating her in a match.
Any ball that was on the line,
I just called it out.
It was so bad. Um [laughs]
For me, it was always
Venus and Serena.
She was the phenom.
[wondrous music playing]
[Curry Kirkpatrick]
There are prodigies, there are oddities,
and there are cultural phenomenons,
and then there is Venus.
Her name is from another planet,
and her tennis talent seems
absolutely intergalactic as well.
[grunts] Ooh, sorry.
[Richard] It's okay.
Don't worry about me.
I was just always told
I was good at tennis,
and I beat a lot of people. [laughs]
That was immediate feedback
in the right direction.
[interviewer] What's the toughest match
you've ever been in?
Probably the one against my sister.
-Mm.
-[giggles]
Growing up,
there were five of us.
I was number four, so I was
real low in the pecking order.
Hardly any responsibility
outside of playing tennis
for hours a day.
I got off easy, and I was only
responsible for one other,
which was Serena,
because she was the youngest,
and I was her older sister.
Growing up with my sisters,
we all shared
a one-bedroom in Compton,
and we had two sets of bunk beds.
And by the time I came, like,
there was no more bed for me.
And so, um
I didn't have a bed growing up.
Venus used to tell me stories
at night to put me to sleep
because I couldn't go
to sleep, and so
she would say, "Okay,
I'm gonna tell you a story."
It could be about princesses
or dragons or whatever it was.
She would always tell me these
amazing, elaborate stories,
and I would go to sleep,
like, two seconds in.
[Venus] I made up a lot
of fantastic stories
that I do not remember,
but I think they were pretty good.
I just wish that I remembered them now
and write a book about it
"Serena's Bedtime Stories."
[Serena] Venus is such
a big part of my life.
I wanted to do everything
that she did.
So I think that's the main reason
I continued to stay in tennis,
because it was hard, it was grueling.
At some point, you wanted to hang out
with other kids and do other things,
but she was always on the court,
and she was always grinding,
and I was like,
"Okay, I don't want
to be left behind."
[Richard] Low off it,
low off it. Great. Nice.
[Serena] So I was definitely
keeping up, but I also
I've always just
innately wanted to
be good at whatever I did.
Yeah, that's you. That's you, Serena.
Get right in her face.
Good. Get ready for the next one.
[Serena]
I just wanted to stand out.
And the best way for me
to stand out in tennis was
just to, you know, do a little
bit more than keeping up.
[narrator] Richard Williams
has coached both girls
since the age of four,
but he knows that for them
to reach new heights,
the family must leave
their home in Compton
to study at academies more equipped
to take their game to the next level.
[Serena] My dad decided
that we needed more help,
and we needed more support,
and all these decisions
I didn't know what was happening.
I just knew that we were
going to go to Florida
and play more tennis,
and I was excited.
Their father, looking to take
their game up a notch,
pulled them out of junior competitions
and cut a deal with Rick Macci
for free training
at this Florida tennis academy.
[Serena] So my dad stopped
Venus and I from playing
junior tournaments because
he said he couldn't handle,
and he didn't want us to see
everything that was happening.
I think no one wanted a million dollars
as bad as I did at first.
I was always thinking, "Gosh, I'm going
to make a million dollars now."
But when I go to the junior tournament
and see kids get hit over the head
or beat up,
I come to realize that
I don't need that million dollars
that bad at all.
He kept his daughters
out of junior tournaments
and shielded them from agents
and overzealous coaches.
[Oracene] I didn't want them kids
being prostituted
or exploited in any kind of way.
Then you want to keep them
well adjusted, well balanced.
Richard Williams says he has stressed
school, religion, and then tennis.
All my dreams weren't
on the tennis court.
I learned guitar
and started listening to Green Day.
I became this low-key punk rocker
'cause I liked Bad Religion
and Rancid and stuff like that.
And back then, I loved to skateboard.
That's how I got a good forehand,
was by skateboarding.
My backhand used to be
really, really amazing.
And one day I was at school,
but I didn't want to be there,
so I just took my skateboard out,
and I went skateboarding
in the neighborhood.
Fell, hurt my wrist really bad,
and I never told my dad.
So I couldn't really hit backhands.
I'm like, "No, I'll work
on my forehand today.
I want my forehand to get better."
I remember her forehand
getting much bigger after that,
and I'm thinking,
"Maybe I should fall." [laughs]
[Serena] I don't know
how we did all this
and still trained so hard.
[wondrous music playing]
[grunts]
[Serena] I think my dad
was a marketing genius.
He always put Venus out there,
and he had such a genius way
of making our story be seen and told.
So he got my sister out there,
and then he started to say
that I was going to be better.
Serena will be a better player.
So phenomenal, the way
she can play the angles
and the power that she has.
He used to call me, like, a pit bull.
He was like, "Serena is such
a pit bull out there.
She just goes out there and
she just bites, bites, bites,
and she fights, and she's very
aggressive and very strong."
I honestly never believed
that he thought
that I was going to be better.
I don't know if it was the fact
that I didn't believe in myself,
and that's why I never believed it.
I always thought that my dad
was doing that just
so I can get some recognition,
to make sure that I had an opportunity
to play professional tennis.
Even myself always thought
that Venus was far better than me,
and she would always
be the greatest.
Venus Williams is breathtaking
in practice,
but practice is all we've seen so far
from the 14-year-old phenom.
That changes Monday when she makes
her professional debut
in Oakland, California.
[commentator] Williams' first
pro match will be in Oakland tonight
when she will face Shaun Stafford,
a former NCAA champion in Florida.
I remember Venus' pro debut so well.
[narrator] From all over
the planet they have come
to get a look at Venus.
[Serena] There was this
crazy amount of press,
and I was so nervous for her
when she stepped out
on the court and played her first match.
I did not know what I was doing,
and it worked, is all I can say.
[commentator 1]
Venus never bothered to sit
between changeovers.
Williams said, "I don't sit in practice.
Why should I sit during a match?"
[Venus] We didn't sit down in practice,
so I thought,
"Well, why am I sitting down
in the match?" So I just stood up.
"This kid doesn't even
need a break." [laughs]
[commentator 2]
Venus won last night
with talent and enthusiasm.
[commentator 3] Post match,
Williams behaved like
she had been at it her entire life.
My pro debut was nowhere near
as illustrious, thank God.
We were going to Canada,
and it was a total disaster.
I missed my flight going there.
I wanted to get a hot dog,
and I looked back,
and the plane was taking off.
My dad was like,
"Meka, the plane's leaving."
And I was like, "No."
Oh. Yeah, her debut was so cute.
[laughs]
[Serena] It was like a side court.
It wasn't even the main court.
And I remember thinking,
"I am not ready.
I am not ready to go pro."
Like, "What do you mean,
I have to go pro?"
Of course, I didn't say that,
but I'm like
[gasps] "I'm not ready."
It was really cute.
It was tough for her,
and it's normal to maybe
not win your first match.
[Serena] My body
wasn't ready physically.
I mentally was not ready.
Yeah, I lost in, like,
40 minutes, 6-1,6-1,
to this girl, her name was Annie Miller.
I was angry at the girl
that beat her.
I never let it go.
I should have let it go,
but I didn't for a few years.
Um so I guess I was protective.
[laughs]
The only thing I took away
from that disastrous debut
was that I do not want to step back
out in professional tennis
until I am ready.
And I end up flying later
to watch Venus play.
[commentator] 15-year-old
Venus Williams played
only her sixth professional
match last night in Oakland.
And there it is
[Serena] Watching my sister succeed,
I couldn't have been happier.
Something just clicked
where I just started
to kind of figure out
how to win points
in important times and all the time.
[Serena] It was the best position
I could have been in,
not to be in front, you know,
just watching her
handle all the pressure,
handle all the reporters,
handle everything.
No one really knew, but I was
actually her hitting partner.
So at the same time, I was
practicing my craft as well.
I would watch
her matches so intently,
and I watched everything
that she did,
whether it was good
or whether it was bad.
Whenever she won, I felt like I won.
Whenever she lost,
I couldn't have been more sad.
[reporter] Venus shaking up
the solar system
in and around
Arthur Ashe Stadium today,
becoming the first unseeded
woman to advance
to a US Open singles final.
[Serena] Every mistake
she made, it was like
I made the same mistake,
even though I wasn't on the court.
[commentator]
Ladies and gentlemen,
our 1997 US Open
Women's champion,
Martina Hingis.
And so by the time
I did have an opportunity
to go out there
in a more serious way
it was like I had two years
of experience of playing.
[commentator] Venus Williams is the
better known of the Williams sisters,
but little or not-so-little,
really, sister Serena
has come through the rankings
even faster.
This magnificent stadium
on the island paradise
of Key Biscayne on a perfect day
hosts the world's
major tennis tournament,
save for the Slams,
it's known simply as the Lipton.
[Serena] It was the biggest
tournament at that time,
outside of the Slams.
It was Wimbledon, US Open,
French Open, Australia.
Then it was the Lipton.
I was confident now.
I had that disastrous debut,
but I knew I wasn't going to play again
until I could play professional tennis.
[commentator] Our feature match today,
number one in the world, Martina Hingis.
And of course, one of the pretenders,
and the real serious threats
to her number one,
Serena, the younger Williams sister.
[Serena] I knew that I could
beat these players,
and Martina Hingis was
on the top of my list
'cause I knew that I had
the game to beat her.
[commentator] So Martina Hingis
is number one in the world,
clearly now the favorite
for women's tennis.
I mean, she was such a good player,
so young,
um, but I was determined.
I was determined to take her down.
Her first ball in the air,
best of three sets.
Love, 50.
It was definitely a cocky feeling,
but at the same time,
I would say it was more confident.
I knew what I was capable of.
No one else knew what I knew.
[cheering]
[Venus] Martina Hingis,
what a competitor.
The game of tennis is made
for people like her.
She positioned her strengths.
She played the chessboard,
she played the court.
I knew her game.
-[commentator 2] Wow.
-Ace for Williams.
Serena Williams, that is.
[Serena] And I was winning.
[cheering]
At the time. I thought,
"Okay, I got this."
[commentator] And that's how it is.
Five games to three.
She's one game away
from beating the world's number one.
[Serena]
I was up 5-3.
I was up, like, two breaks at one point.
[cheering]
[commentator speaking indistinctly]
[Serena] But it's never smooth sailing
with Martina Hingis.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator speaking indistinctly]
the match point.
[commentator 2]
And the momentum has totally
shifted in the last handful of points.
[commentator 1]
The high lob into the wind,
and Serena Williams
tamely with the overhead
But I never felt bad about that loss.
Yeah, I was disappointed, but it's one
of the few losses that I wasn't,
like, super upset over
'cause I knew I had her.
I said, "I got you."
But not only did it prep you,
it prepped everyone else
to know that I'm coming
for not only you,
but I'm coming for everybody.
That was, like, my mission
after a while
was just to be able
to beat her, constantly.
And the Open Gaz de France in 1999
was building up to that.
It was a small arena,
but it was a big WTA tournament,
so everyone would come out
to this small tournament,
and the crowd was crazy.
[cheering]
At some point, I played Julie Halard,
and they were chanting "Julie" so loud,
and it was just overwhelming.
And I'm like, "This is nuts."
They made this song,
and it was like
Allez, allez, allez, Julie ♪
Allez, allez, allez, Julie ♪
And they kept saying it over and over.
And somehow I won,
and I was in the final
of my first tournament,
and it was a big tournament,
and I was like,
"Wow, this is great."
But I wasn't prepared.
With all the French players I played,
I was not prepared
to play Amélie Mauresmo.
She was host number one
at France at the time.
Just gotten to the finals
of Australian Open.
She was doing great things,
and I was like,
"Okay, I can handle the crowd, I think."
[cheering]
[commentators speaking in French]
I could not. It was so loud.
[crowd cheering loudly]
[rumbling]
I could hear it in my chest.
[woman] Merci.
[Serena] The arena was
this small arena,
but it was indoor,
and so everything
vibrated on the walls,
and it was just this insane,
loud chanting
that you could just hear.
Same song, different name
Allez, allez, allez, Amélie ♪
over and over.
And then it was just, "Allez, Amélie."
It was just things you don't forget.
[crowd cheering]
It was crazy.
And somehow I think
we ended up in a tie break,
and I was fighting
like I'd never fought before.
[upbeat music playing]
Playing this girl
who just got to the finals
of the Australian Open
means I could have been in
the finals of the Australian Open.
And then
-I won.
-Mademoiselle Williams.
-[cheering]
-[commentator continues speaking French]
I remember being so elated.
It was my first tournament win,
and to win under those
circumstances, I don't know
many people that have won
their first tournament
under those circumstances,
and I think that definitely helped me
throughout my career because
those were tough circumstances to win.
Ahh!
Venus was actually
playing the same week.
That was the first time
that we played separately.
She's in Oklahoma. I'm in Paris.
Every time I would win a match,
I would check
the scores or call Venus,
and she would win her match.
And so then it became,
like, this amazing
parallel of, like, she won, I won.
Okay, now we're in the semis.
I won, she won.
Finals, I'm in Paris,
so I'm ahead of her.
I won, and it was amazing,
and I was so happy.
And then she won,
and that was, like, the first time
two sisters had won
in the same week.
We weren't together,
but we were together
because we were both
doing something that we had
grown up doing
every single days of our life,
and we were mirroring
each other across the globe.
It was such a great moment
for both of us,
but her especially, because
she also was on her way.
[Serena] I'd won several tournaments
that year.
[commentator] Serena Williams,
a winner
over 21-time Grand Slam
winner Steffi Graf.
[cheers and applause]
She really came up after that.
I feel like something
started to click for her.
She could do anything on the court.
Now, make no mistake about it,
Serena Williams is having
an outstanding year.
Everyone was really, like,
giving me super side eyes.
Like, "We really need to
watch this girl.
She's won two in a row now. This is
We need to take
There's two of them?"
It was just a good year
for me to take the next step.
[wondrous music playing]
[upbeat music playing]
[commentator]
The world's best are here
for the last Grand Slam
of the millennium,
the 1999 US Open.
[commentator 2]
The top ladies shouldn't hit
many roadblocks early on,
but just wait.
The Williams sisters
are in opposite halves
of the draw and could meet
in the final.
[Serena]
Going into New York,
we were on opposite sides
of the draw,
which meant we could
only meet in the final.
Although she has
never won a Grand Slam,
it would be tough not to pick
Venus Williams
as the favorite
to take this year's US Open.
The 19-year-old is on a tear.
[commentator 3]
Seventeen-year-old Serena
has become a major force
on the tour as well.
She can make a statement of her own
in this wide open and competitive field.
[Serena] My dad had a talk
with myself and Venus,
and he said, "This is going
to be a tournament
that you guys
are never going to forget,
and you have an opportunity
to really make history here."
"What are you gonna do?"
And he's like, "You need to be
super focused for this moment.
Whenever you're out on the court,
take this moment and zero in."
[Richard]
Just like you at the US Open.
This is you at the US Open.
Let's go. Boom! Good. Right.
"Whatever it takes,
go out there and do it.
If you're down, come back.
Like, fight. Fight like
a champion that you both are."
I took those words to heart.
[Richard] That's great,
but now you got to overhead
to put it away. Put it away! Let's go.
I I don't know how to explain it.
And I never felt this way again.
I knew before the tournament started
[Richard] This is you.
This is you right there
at the US Open.
-I knew I was gonna win the Open.
-Boom!
[crowd cheering]
It was so clear in my mind
that when my dad was telling me this,
I was like,
"Wow, this is, like, so cool."
Like, "This is a story
I can tell one day
'cause I'm gonna win the Open."
I didn't dream it like
I knew I was gonna win that
tournament. It was this
It had already happened for me.
It was like a premonition.
[commentator] And Serena
joins her sister Venus
in the quarterfinals of the Open.
Anytime I played Monica,
part of me was a little bit
of a fangirl 'cause I was like,
"I'm playing Monica Seles.
She's so cool."
[grunting]
[crowd cheering]
We were going back and forth.
And then I rolled my ankle
in that match really bad.
[indistinct yelling]
It was an awful, awful,
awful ankle sprain.
It was so bad that I thought,
"Okay, well, I'm not
gonna win the US Open."
[commentator] Just rolled over
on that left foot,
just a touch.
That's the whole thing in my career.
I never I never would give up. You
I could be down, match point,
and I will keep fighting.
[crowd cheering]
And so that's what I did.
I just kept fighting,
and next thing I know
-[grunting]
-I won.
[commentator 2]
And the sisters are there.
Semifinals for the first time,
a Grand Slam for Serena.
[commentator 1]
Really picked up her game
as mom and dad look on.
[cheering]
Do you think that now
this is a success in her mind?
Is she Will she be happy
with this result
if she doesn't make it to the Finals?
She's delighted with how
she's played, but, Bill, she wants
She's ready to win a major.
So is Venus.
I mean, I honestly
feel that they believe that.
[dramatic music]
[Serena] Lindsay I was
so confident against
'cause I had beaten Lindsay
a couple of times by then.
My ankle was sprained,
but I had a day to recover.
[applause]
I remember thinking,
"Okay, Lindsay's never
played me this hard."
Like, oh, my God,
she was playing so well.
[commentator 1]
Six games to one.
[commentator 2] The defending
champion has come back
and will play a third set.
And we went three sets again.
And I'm like,
"I'm in another three-set match."
Like, "How is this even possible?"
I really had to fight.
I really had to fight.
[cheering]
[commentator 2] There it is.
40. 50.
Two more match points.
[commentator 3]
Serena Williams on the verge,
perhaps, of her first US Open.
[crowd cheering]
-She's done it.
-6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
[Serena] Lindsay played
incredibly well that day,
but somehow I survived.
[commentator]
An hour and 53 minutes.
And what a moment for Serena.
[Serena] I won, and now
I was gonna be in the Finals.
I had played Lindsay
on the day match,
and I had gone three sets.
[commentator 1]
Serena Williams stopping
to oblige the autograph seekers.
She is on her way to
her first Grand Slam Final.
And my ankle didn't hurt at all.
I was like, "Oh, I guess
maybe it wasn't a bad strain."
And I was just geared up
to watch Venus play
the semifinals against Hingis.
This was the moment
that my dad had spoke about.
We're gonna play each other
in the Final of a Grand Slam.
And all that had to play out
was Hingis versus Venus.
You can almost imagine that Venus
would feel a touch
more pressure at this point,
given that her little sister's
in the final.
I did not feel the pressure
of needing to make
a Grand Slam Final
to show that sisters
could make the Final.
The pressure I felt
was my own expectations.
[commentator 2]
So Venus Williams serving
to stay in this first set.
Nice, 24 minutes.
Hingis, three breaks.
Total domination.
Making it look easy right now.
It was just too much for me.
I couldn't handle the occasion.
Venus has beaten Hingis many times,
and Hingis, same,
beaten Venus a few times as well.
But it was such a big moment.
It was a long three-set match.
Venus wasn't playing
her best tennis,
and I was frustrated
at the same time
'cause I wanted her
to play better, and
I wanted Venus to get
to the Final, obviously.
I just didn't step up.
It's as simple as that.
I think I was waiting
for someone else to lose it.
[commentator 1]
Game, set, match, Hingis.
Two sets to one. 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
[Serena]
After Venus lost to Hingis
I got my racket and I went
right to the practice courts.
P1.
And I started practicing
'cause I wasn't going to lose to Hingis.
I needed to beat her.
I hit, I practiced.
I worked on things
that I knew that was coming,
but it was also mental.
I know Hingis knew
that I went to practice.
I didn't practice long.
I practiced just enough
to let her know that,
"Yeah, I'm going
to be ready for you."
[commentator 1]
staying late last night,
practicing after her match,
after her sister's match.
Didn't leave until quarter to 9:00.
[wondrous music playing]
[commentator 2]
All right, Michelle,
thank you very much.
Serena Williams
stepping out onto the court
at Arthur Ashe Stadium
and out of the shadow
of her sister Venus.
[Serena] I remember passing
so many people
saying congratulations,
like thinking
that I was going to lose.
Like saying, "Oh, it's good
you got to the finals.
You did good."
And I was I hated that.
So by the time
I stepped out on the court
and we're doing the coin toss,
I never talked about this,
but I lose the coin toss,
and the referee says
to Martina, she's like,
"Serve or receive"?
Receive.
And I looked at her,
and I said,
"Are you sure about that?"
And she was, like, startled.
And I was like, "Okay."
[indistinct conversation]
And years later,
I remember thinking,
"I can't believe I said that."
You know, I was like,
"How did I say that?
Oh, my goodness.
I can't believe I said that."
[cheers and applause]
[commentator] 31.
Game win.
[Serena] I won the first three games.
I think she was so startled
by what I had said.
Game win.
[Serena]
After that, the match started.
[commentator] Serena doesn't
appear nervous at all.
First Grand Slam Final.
Hingis has a lot more experience.
[commentator] Game Hingis.
Two years ago,
Richard and Oracene watched
Venus Williams on this stage
in this final against Hingis.
15.
She had some points
in that match that I
just are fantastic,
that just show the competitor
that Serena always was
or had become at that point.
She, like, finally, like, grew
and, like, became a monster
on the court
in the most best and beautiful way.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator 2] Thirty-seven minutes.
Serena Williams
has won the first set
from Martina Hingis.
I won the first set, 6-3,
and I wasn't surprised.
And you just have
to think that the sister
from another planet,
Venus, took quite a bit
of a starch out of Hingis
in the semis.
She should definitely get
an assist with this match.
[Serena] Hingis had had
a long three-hour match against Venus,
and they kept saying
she might be tired.
I was thinking to myself,
"Why are they making excuses
for her?"
Because Seles was three sets,
and Lindsay Davenport
was three sets.
They're not giving me
that benefit of the doubt.
[commentator 1] Game Hingis.
Hingis leads 2-1.
But if you are fortified
in your mind,
and you tell yourself,
"I'm gonna do it.
No matter what I have
to physically go through"
[cheering]
"what I have
to mentally go through"
If you change it in your mind
[crowd cheering]
it will happen.
[commentator] Game.
[crowd cheering]
Serena Williams. She leads 5-3.
Then it starts sinking in my head.
"I'm about to win the US Open.
Oh, my God."
I remember, like, seeing
the prize money was $750,000.
15, 40.
[Serena] And I
kind of got in my head
a little bit too much,
and I kind of just started to crumble.
[yells]
[crowd cheering]
-[commentator] Thirty points.
-One of the worst ways you can think,
is thinking,
"Oh, I have this in my pocket."
Very rare have I thought
that way, um, consciously,
'cause I know consciously,
it's the kiss of death.
Game, Hingis.
[crowd cheering]
I cannot go three sets with Hingis.
I was like, "I cannot go three sets
with Martina Hingis.
She's going to destroy me
in three sets."
And by then, I was getting tired.
[commentator 2] She's not really forcing
the issue, is she? She's allowing
Serena Williams to self-destruct.
[Serena]
Then I'm missing shots.
[commentator 1] Game, Hingis.
[cheering]
I'm like, "Serena, stop missing."
"Remember when you were a junior,
you would just hit lobs and
drop shots. Don't miss."
Game, Hingis. Hingis leads 6-5.
So I started to mix my game up.
I started to hit slice,
and she would make an error
whenever I did that.
[crowd cheering]
I started to get my game back.
Six all, tie break.
So we get to the tie break, I said,
"It's now or never.
You can't go three sets,
so you have to figure out a way to win."
I remember at one point,
she was serving,
and then she missed her first serve,
and it seemed like it was 20 minutes.
And I said, "You have to go for it.
You have to hit a forehand
down the line."
And I'm arguing with myself
because then you could miss.
All of a sudden, the ball comes.
And I'm looking at the ball,
and I hit the ball as hard
as I could down the line.
[cheers and applause]
[commentator 2]
Williams two points away.
I just was like,
"I'm not gonna miss.
There's no way
I'm gonna miss."
So I serve,
and then I just don't miss.
I don't care
if we hit a thousand balls.
Like, I'm literally not gonna miss
'cause I can't go three sets with you.
And I was just like,
"Serena, hit to her backhand.
Don't miss.
Hit to her backhand, don't miss."
[cheering]
[commentator 1]
6-4, Williams.
The tournament was definitely filled
with so much history there.
You know, I think Althea Gibson was
the last African-American woman
at the time
to not only win the US Open,
but to win a Grand Slam, period.
The only thing I was thinking about was
making this premonition come true.
-[crowd cheering]
-Game and championship.
[cheering continues]
[Serena] I felt so relieved.
I was like, "Oh, my God,
I just won the Open."
And I was, like, jumping,
and I was super happy.
But inside my soul,
it was an act,
'cause I just knew I was going to win.
I had this premonition.
I had this feeling,
I don't know what you want
to call it,
but I knew I was going
to win the US Open that year.
And this was just
the physical catching up
with what had already happened.
[commentator 2]
From the public courts
of Compton, California,
to US Open champion.
[cheers and applause]
[Serena] Everything that led up
to that moment, Gaz de France,
Indian Wells, and all
the other little tournaments,
all the ones that I won
that year led me
to this moment that I was
going to win the Open.
[crowd cheering]
[court announcer]
Ladies and gentlemen,
the 1999 US Open
Women's Singles champion,
Serena Williams.
[wondrous music playing]
[commentator 2]
Well, it seems like forever.
She shared everything
with her sister Venus,
but now the stage
belongs to Serena.
It wasn't that I wasn't happy
for her.
It's just, you know,
we all get caught up
in our inner struggle,
and I was
in my own inner struggles.
I think I was still,
like, in the past,
in my own match way too much,
instead of, um, enjoying the moment.
[Serena] The best thing
that happened in my career
was coming up behind my sister.
Everyone expected her to do good.
I can't imagine the pressure she felt
as a 15-year-old
and as a 16-year-old.
Like, I don't know if I would have
handled that pressure the same.
I feel like I was able to
go so much faster
because of everything
that she had went through.
Right after I walked off, uh,
center court, I couldn't walk.
It was like the ankle injury,
it came back,
and I physically couldn't walk.
It was crazy.
I'd never experienced
had that much adrenaline
where it literally took away my pain
for two matches,
which is a period of, like, four days.
How do you think this
changes your life going on?
Wow. I don't know.
I guess I have a lot of requests
to go on a day show and stuff, so
You want to buy something?
Ah! [laughs] I didn't think about that.
Hmm. [laughs]
The minute I left
that press conference, like,
I couldn't see it at the time,
but I had a big X,
big red X on my back.
Girls would talk in the locker room
about how they had to beat us.
It became us against everyone else,
and then eventually it became
me against everyone else.
It was just like,
"We don't want her to win.
We don't care who wins.
We just don't want her to win.
That's the girl to beat.
We're going to give everything we can
to take her down."
And that target got
to be also a blessing.
Because if I didn't have that target,
I would never have been Serena Williams.
[exciting music playing]