In the Arena: Serena Williams (2024) s01e04 Episode Script
The Deep End
1
[commentator 1]
Here at Roland-Garros,
pressure on Williams now
to break Henin.
[grunts]
-And there it is!
-[crowd cheering and applauding]
Eight-time grand slam winner
Serena Williams
dismissed in the quarterfinals.
She certainly didn't seem to be herself.
[commentator 2]
Serena was just not Serena today.
[Serena] Tennis is grueling.
A lot of people only see Wimbledon,
-or they only see the U.S. Open.
-[bell tolling]
They don't see the hundreds of matches
that you play before to get to that.
And some you win, and some you lose,
but it's every single week.
-It's in and out.
-[tires squeal]
And somehow
you have to still be motivated
to play at your best.
[announcer 1] Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome Serena Williams!
-[announcer 2] Serena Williams!
-[announcer 3] Serena Williams!
[Serena] It got really hard,
because being isolated
and being on the court
and then having to do
something so repetitive,
it's just the same thing in and out,
same routine every day
for years and years and years and years.
I wanna be good.
I wanna be great.
How do I get that?
[crowd cheering]
There was something that had to change.
It was about revamping.
Like, how do I do better?
How do I get more out of myself?
[commentator] I will only believe
Serena's out of this tournament
when I watch that plane leave
from the Melbourne airport.
[commentator 2]
She knows what it takes.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Serena] 2008, I'd been playing
for well over a decade.
Probably two decades.
It's a very long time to be playing.
You could see that
I wasn't myself on the court.
You could see that I'm just
I'm in anguish.
[commentator] The defending champ,
the three-time winner
of the Australian Open
out in the quarterfinals
in straight sets.
[Serena] There was something
that had to change.
Up to this point, my team had
really been a family business.
Venus and I always shared
hitting partners,
and at this point, I just needed my own.
I needed someone
that was gonna be 100% for me,
that was always gonna be there
if I needed to hit,
'cause I like to train a lot.
So, I needed to start working
on Team Serena.
All I know is Serena was looking
for a guy with no life.
[Serena] And so,
found Sascha in Germany.
He was just there coaching some kids.
Yeah, I was coaching
in an academy in Munich.
I got a phone call.
On a Saturday night,
I was out with friends.
I was having a drink or two,
and they asked me
if I wanted to practice
with Serena the next day.
So, I actually declined
because I knew that
if I practiced with her tomorrow,
she's never gonna practice with me again
because I'm not gonna be able to play
the way I need to play because
I was out partying, so
But luckily, they called back,
and I was, like, all right, whatever.
If I have to play with Serena Williams,
I will do it. I was like, if I must.
Obviously, I rushed back home,
dropped the party,
went with a bicycle to the courts.
We practiced four or five days,
and we somehow clicked.
We instantly meshed.
He was such a funny guy.
He was so young
when he first joined my team.
Basically I even left my bike.
I haven't picked up my bike.
It might be still
at the tennis club chained
if nobody stole it, to be honest.
But left with Serena.
And I remember her
trying to build a team.
[Serena] He was one of
the first people
that joined Team Serena.
Team Serena was small.
It started out with just Sascha,
then Team Serena was growing.
It's like a business.
[Esther Lee] Oh, gosh,
when I met Serena,
I remember she walked in.
She was reading this children's book
called Fablehaven, and I
was just working on her, and
And she just started asking me
all these personal questions.
[Serena] I was, like, whoa.
You're really good.
Put my book down, and I started
asking her questions.
I was like, "So, where are you from?
Where do you live?"
And I thought, oh, wow,
she's so friendly.
[Serena] "Oh, are you working?
Are you working full-time?
What do you think about tennis?
Have you ever traveled?"
As she kept going, I was, like,
oh, this kind of feels
like an interview. [laughs]
[Serena] It was not a job interview.
I was there to get treatment,
and then I was, like, wow,
this young lady is really special.
And at that point, I was thinking,
well, Esther needs to be on our team.
[Lee] And so she asked
on her second treatment, like,
"Would you want to travel
with, um, myself and Venus?"
You know, it was no question.
[laughs]
[engine roaring]
[Serena] I'm always about improving.
I love inviting people into my camp
that are different and work differently.
And then my mom tells me
about this guy Mackie.
So, we make a trip out of it.
We go to New Orleans,
and we meet Mackie.
Well, the toughest thing
for me to try and figure out
is what am I?
I've been called everything
from a nutritionist
to a physical therapist like Esther.
I've been called a trainer.
I'm none of that.
I'm in the field
of performance management.
It really started in 1985,
moving Michael Spinks,
who was the 1976 Olympic champion,
-up to heavyweight.
-[bell rings]
And when Michael Spinks defeated
reigning champion Larry Holmes,
my name got put all over the world.
[Serena] Mackie talks a lot.
-A lot.
-[Shilston] You come into my world,
I'mma put you in a DEXA scan
where I can see your bone, muscle,
and blood down to the gram.
I'm gonna have you taken apart
with a physical therapy
biomechanical analysis.
And then I'm gonna tell you
if you can survive three weeks
of me, you gon' be okay.
[Serena] I honestly don't think
I remember much
out of that first meeting except for,
"I like this guy.
I like this guy. We're gonna
have a lot of fun together."
Every few years,
I changed how I trained
to retrain my body to be better.
And Mackie was a part
of the next few years
where I'm interested to see
where he can take me.
You know, crazy Mackie.
Where we gonna go with this?
[grunts]
[Shilston] So, Serena
had a standout record,
but when I said, "Serena, I need
to see some type of video,
the best of Serena,"
and she looked at me,
and she said, "Mackie,
I don't have it to show to you."
I said, "Why?"
'Cause she says,
"I've never been at my best.
She says,
"Help me get back to number one."
I said, "Okay."
And so I don't approach anything
the normal way,
because my mindset is
if you keep doing it the same way,
you'll get the same outcome.
I loved that Mackie
worked with different athletes.
I mean, you look at boxers.
They have the best footwork
in all of sport.
And I believe that if you have
different elements
of different sport, you can
really bring 'em into your sport
and hone it and be the best at it.
[Shilston] Well, I'm a cog in a wheel.
I join a team.
My job was to take her apart.
Esther's job
was to put her back together.
Sascha's job
was to keep the ball in play.
[Bajin] When you work
with someone like Serena,
we've had a lot, a lot of long days.
[Serena] When I'm on the practice court,
I'm not gonna waste time
and just kind of
go through the motions.
Like, it was about perfecting
every single shot
to make it as perfect as I could.
[commentator] Oh, boy, that one,
round about chest high,
that was hammered, that forehand.
[Lee] She was just dominating
during that time,
and I felt like
she was this strong train
that was moving along,
and I just had to kind of
help it carry on.
It wasn't easy.
It was a lot of hard work.
But I felt like I just
had to keep that train going.
[crowd applauding]
[Bajin] When Team Serena was formed,
you know something good
is happening.
Like, you could feel that
these three, four people,
this core group
all pushing with the same goal,
what can't we achieve?
Ahhh! Come on!
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Serena] We were such good friends.
Like, we just always hung out.
We would just always
have so much fun.
It was just, like,
such a good opportunity
just to just be yourself,
and that was really important
for me to have.
Ahhh! [laughs]
[Serena] And I felt like
I was really, really improving.
[commentator] Serena's trying
to declare herself once again
as the number one player in the world.
It's been far too long.
[crowd cheers]
[grunting]
[commentator] Incredible game,
and now it's match point for Serena.
[grunts]
The 2008 U.S. Open champion
Serena Williams!
[cheering]
[Shilston] We just won number one,
and she calls me up,
and I said,
"Serena, number one was yesterday.
Don't tell me that you hit a home run
at your last at bat.
What are you gonna do for me now?
What's gonna happen
at your next at bat?"
Because the easiest thing in my book
is to win
the world heavyweight championship.
I've done it multiple times.
Toughest thing in the world is hold it.
[Serena] I was fanatical.
I was nuts about
"How do I stay number one?"
How do I stay the best?
[commentator] Serena Williams
looking for her 10th Grand Slam title.
[grunting]
[crowd gasps and applauds]
-[umpire] Out!
-[crowd cheering]
[Bajin] From 2008 to 2010,
she really did win a lot then.
She regained her status
after having a couple of moderate years
for her own capabilities.
[grunting]
[crowd gasps]
[grunts]
[commentator] She picks up
her third Wimbledon title.
[Bajin] I didn't wanna blink
because I was afraid
I'm gonna miss something.
Even she can be down,
and I still don't wanna believe it.
I still wanna put my money on Serena.
[commentator]
Henin is firing everything at her.
[umpire shouts indistinctly]
[commentator]
Williams frazzled at the moment.
[Serena] Australian Open 2010,
was in the third set.
I think I'd lost the first game
or whatever.
And this guy was like,
"Serena, you can beat Serena.
She's not all that good."
[man in crowd shouting indistinctly]
[Serena] So, when that guy yells that,
I'm thinking to myself,
first of all, like, seriously?
I'm not good? Okay.
We all know that's not true.
And I looked at the guy,
and I thought [scoffs]
okay, I'm gonna show you what good is.
[commentator] Biggest point
of the finals right here.
[Serena] Part of me likes to be doubted.
I think I need that someone
to say something,
and it just fires me up,
but I'm, like, okay,
I'm gonna prove you wrong.
I kinda like it.
[commentator] Yes, sir.
What a competitor.
Oh, yeah, that's
the biggest mistake you can do
is you poke the sleeping bear.
[umpire] Game, Williams.
[Bajin] You could see
that there was a reset in her,
and she's just refusing to lose.
She's just determined
to prove this person wrong.
[commentator]
Serena Williams will be serving
for her fifth Australian Open crown.
[umpire] Game, set, match, Williams.
[commentator]
Another fighting performance.
Another performance
where she's been down at times,
but she's never out,
and that's why she is a champion.
[Bajin] I've had
these situations with her
throughout her career,
and it's just a display
of her really refusing to accept
that the other girl
might be better that day.
[Serena] That's just my personality.
It's just this piece of my brain
that turns on,
and it clicks and just makes
this insane individual
that just doesn't stop.
[commentator] Three champions points
for Serena Williams.
[crowd cheering]
She's the champion again!
Number 13, a lucky number
for Serena Williams.
[crowd continues cheering]
[Serena] So,
after I won Wimbledon,
I was really, really focused.
And I was super excited
for hardcourt season
with the goal of winning
the U.S. Open in 2010.
But I stayed in Europe because
I had an exhibition to play.
And I go to this bar in Germany.
And I was at the bar,
and this guy, like, kind of like
shoved me or whatever,
and I'm thinking, dude, like, chill.
And next thing I know, I felt
something warm on my foot.
And then I'm leaving,
and take, like, a step,
and I step on some glass.
[glass shatters]
Everything happened
just so fast,
like, her limping and then
saying something like, "Ahhh."
Then I looked down,
and there was a puddle of blood.
I had one cut
on my right foot on top.
That's when I felt the warm.
Like, I didn't feel anything.
I just felt like my foot
was warm. I don't
To this day,
I don't know what happened.
And then on my other foot,
I had, like, a whole giant cut
on the bottom.
So, it was on both of my feet.
I felt so bad and guilty
because I feel like I'm responsible
'cause she was in my city.
Um, I remember right after,
calling an ambulance.
[Serena] This is where
it gets a little fuzzy for me,
'cause I lost so much blood.
I remember getting in an ambulance,
and then that's all I remember.
Blacked out.
I didn't know how bad my injury was.
All the doctors were saying that it was,
"Oh, it's just a tear,"
even though my foot,
even though my toe's not moving.
And I'm telling 'em, I said,
"You know my toe is not moving.
I can't move my toe."
And they're like, "No, you know,
it's fine. It'll come back."
So, I didn't think it was that bad.
And so I went to a doctor in L.A.,
and he fixed it.
But it didn't work. It re-tore.
So, after the first surgery didn't work,
the doctors were saying,
"You don't have to fix it.
You can play for another
30 years if you want.
It's not gonna affect your career."
I said, "Well, will it affect my life?"
And they're like,
"You'll just never be able
to move your big toe.
So, do you want to live
with a limp toe?" [laughs]
Or Or what?
And so they told me just to,
"Live life for three days.
Do things that you would
normally do
and see how you feel."
So I said, "Okay. I tried to do things,
everything that I would
normally do,
I did in three days."
I tried to wear heels.
What was that experience
of putting on shoes?
And then I rode my bike, and I fell.
[bicycle crashes]
Skinned my face. I still have, like,
this awful mark on my face.
I skinned my shoulder,
which is a disaster.
It was like this. I hate this.
I don't wanna live the rest of my life
not being able to move my toe.
Like, I love tennis,
and I love my career,
and I love that I could train right now
and come back and play.
I really do, but I don't wanna
live the rest of my life
regretting that
I didn't get that surgery.
So, I ended up
getting a second surgery.
The second surgery, that was hard.
And the doctor fixed it.
My toe can move,
but he said,
"This is gonna be a long road."
And I was like, [hesitantly] "Okay."
[reporter 1] Serena Williams
out for the U.S. Open,
a medical foot fault.
It will be Williams' first major miss
since the '06 Wimbledon.
[reporter 2] This is what Serena
had to say in a statement.
"Not being able to be part
of this year's U.S. Open
is one of the most devastating
moments of my career."
[Lee] When you're
going through injuries,
that's when you really
have to take it day by day,
because especially as an elite athlete,
they don't have patience
when it comes to injury,
and they just wanna get back on court.
They just wanna get back training.
But recovery from surgery takes time.
[fireworks popping and whistling]
[Serena] 2011, my foot was doing better.
Clearly, this surgery is gonna work,
so I'm still getting therapy on it.
I go to L.A. during the All Star weekend
'cause I always throw
this party every year.
I'm walking in the airport with Esther,
and she's like,
"Why are you breathing so hard?"
And I'm like,
"I know I'm out of shape."
[laughs]
Like, I'm out of shape. It's okay.
But when I'm telling her this,
I can't walk.
So, I have to literally stop,
and I have to talk to her.
Like, look, this is crazy.
She's, like,
"I don't know what's wrong."
Like, you know, she showed me her leg,
and from the knee down,
it was so swollen.
Prior to me working with her,
she had mentioned
that she had a blood clot
from a knee surgery.
And somehow that just
kind of came into my mind
that she had a history of a blood clot,
and I was like, this kind of looks like
she has a blood clot.
So, I was telling her, like, you know,
"We should go to the ER.
We just gotta check and make sure."
Esther, like, insists
Insists that I go.
So, I'm going to Cedars
in L.A.,
and every test they take is negative.
Like, there's nothing wrong with me.
Like, I'm fine.
I'm, like, "See, Esther?
Like, there's nothing wrong with me.
I can go home."
[Lee] They come back,
and they're, like,
"There's no blood clot.
Like, she's good. She's clear."
And, you know,
meanwhile Serena's laying in there
'cause it's taking forever
to do all these tests,
and she's, like, "I hate you, Esther.
I hate you. Like, I gotta go.
I got, you know, places to go."
I have a house party
in another 90 minutes.
I'm hosting this event.
I remember talking to one of the nurses,
and I was, like, you know,
"You can't
You can't release her
because she can't breathe."
And I kept pushing it.
Like, you know, you need
to thoroughly examine."
So, they decided to do a CT scan.
Immediately, they found that
she had multiple
blood clots in her lungs.
[Serena] So what the doctors
discovered with the very last
test was that I, um,
had a pulmonary embolism
bilaterally, so in both lungs.
It was just a matter of hours
at this point
if I didn't get this treated
that I would just black out
and never wake up.
[Lee] Usually a blood clot
will develop in the leg or the pelvis,
and because it's in your blood system,
it can get dislodged.
And it just travels through
your circulatory system,
and it'll go through the heart,
go through the lungs.
And a pulmonary embolism
is when that blood clot is released
and then kind of blocks out
the arteries in your lung,
and you can die, like, instantly.
And so it was so quick,
like, went to the ICU,
and immediately they came
to pick her up for surgery.
[monitor beeping steadily]
[ticking]
After surgery,
she was monitored,
put on blood thinners.
[beeps]
[Serena] It was a really hard time.
Here I go from winning,
you know, Australia,
winning Wimbledon [sighs]
And then I'm ready
to win the Open,
and then now I'm literally
on my deathbed.
I was really scared.
Here you are thinking that,
oh, I wanna win the Open,
and now I started thinking, oh,
I just I wanna live.
That was literally my thought.
It went from winning the Open
to just wanting to live.
I didn't wanna do anything else.
Actually, I didn't even
wanna play tennis.
I was, like,
I don't care about anything.
I just wanna, like
I just wanna be able
to survive, you know.
You never think about death
when you're living
because you just don't think about it.
And then you're there,
and it's just, like,
who cares about winning
Grand Slams, you know?
Who cares about winning
the U.S. Open or Wimbledon?
Like, this is
My life is so much more important.
Like, I just would rather be alive.
[Bajin] That year that she had,
it just kept going from bad luck
to bad luck to bad luck.
And I felt like because
everything that happened in Munich,
I feel like I've
I've started a snowball effect on her
which she can't get out of.
[reporter] It happened just a few days
after she won Wimbledon.
Serena Williams cut her foot
on broken glass.
Serena then suffered
life-threatening blood clots
in her lungs.
She simply called it the disaster.
[Serena] I had to give myself
injections every day
to thin my blood to make sure
the blood clot would stay gone.
The worst part is pricking.
Like, once you get over
the prick, you're good.
And I'm injecting in the stomach,
and, like, my stomach,
like, starts to get
a little circle on it.
And I'm, like, what's happening?
And every day it gets bigger
and bigger and bigger,
and it's, like, now I have, like,
this little ball on my stomach.
So I go to the doctor,
and I guess I injected,
and I hit a blood vessel,
which the doctor says
is like one in a billion.
They're, like,
"Yeah, you have, like, a hematoma.
"We have to surgically drain it."
And I'm, like,
"You gotta be kidding me."
I ended up back in the hospital,
and then they put this drain on me,
which I named Grover.
And this drain is in me
for, like, a week
to, like, drain out this hematoma.
And at that point,
I was, like, that's it.
Like, I can't do any more of this.
Like, one thing after another
after another.
[Lee] It felt like a marathon
because for her, she was just, like,
"Ugh! what now?"
And that was kind of one of,
I think,
one of the lowest points
I've seen her at.
I think she kind of hit rock bottom.
You know,
she just felt like she was helpless.
Like, "Why do all these things
keep happening?"
And And I just
I just sat with her,
and I, like, prayed with her.
And I said, you know,
God doesn't give you
more than you can handle.
[Serena] She's, like,
"You need to pray.
Like, if you've had enough,
you need to pray
and say, 'God, I cannot handle
any more.
You said you'll never give me
more than what I can handle,
and I can't handle any more.'"
And that meant so much
to me because
[voice breaking] I was, like, I can't.
I literally can't take any more.
Like, how much more, like
I don't think I'm able
to take any more right now.
I need a break.
And I remember just praying
and saying, "Jehovah, I can't
Like, I just need help."
And then things
turned around from there.
Like, I just
Things started to finally get better,
and I really was grateful for Esther
just taking me aside
and just bringing me back
to what I needed to hear.
-[Lee] Hi, Dr. Dreesen.
-[Serena] It's Serena and Esther.
[Dr. Dreesen]
How are you guys doing?
Fantastic, fantastic news.
Your chest CT scan
shows absolutely nothing.
I am hereby officially
certifying you all good.
-[Lee] Wow.
-Oh, thank God.
[Lee] Congrats.
[Dr. Dreesen] You are now clearl
okay to restart all training,
as much training as you possibly can.
You're good to go.
I'm alive. My foot's good.
Mackie, let's go. Sascha, let's go.
[Shilston] We were given the all clear,
but she came off the court,
and she came over to her chair
like I'm sitting in,
and just bent over and went [gasping]
[Serena] I didn't have
full function of my lungs.
When the embolism enters it,
it kills it, and it turns black.
So, a lot of my lung is just not there.
[whistle blows]
[Lee] Not only do you have now
a compromised ability to breathe,
she was also recovering
from the foot injury as well.
So, we had a lot of layers,
and as a world-class athlete,
you're starting here,
and you've got way so far to go.
[Serena] There is no secret sauce.
I wouldn't let anyone outwork me.
It's all about tennis,
and it's all about rehab.
That's kind of your whole life.
[Bajin] I really wish people could see
how much pain, how much struggling,
how much you have to be willing
to sacrifice everything
in order to just be
the best version of herself.
[Serena] Our saying
in our internal camp was,
from the hospital bed to the podium,
you just work hard and you work
and you work and you work.
Before I know it,
I was back on tour.
[reporter] Serena's back.
It has been almost
one full calendar year
since she played an official match.
[Serena] I wasn't gonna
not play Wimbledon.
I had to defend my title.
I already missed defending my title
in Australia,
and that's terrible.
You don't even get to play.
And so for me, it was, like,
okay, well, I can at least try.
[grunting]
[Bajin] The fact that
she was willing to go out there,
knowing that maybe
she should have taken
another month or two,
but it's Wimbledon, and it's Serena.
And I'll tell you now,
as long as this woman
can walk and breathe
and hold a racket,
I think she should go to Wimbledon.
[grunting]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
There's one thing to practice,
but it's a whole different level
to compete.
You don't know
if you're coming back too soon.
[audience gasps]
[commentator] Oh!
[Lee] It was very nerve-racking,
but with her, she's just got
so much mental determination,
and you can't compare that
to anybody else,
honestly with anyone
I've ever worked with.
[grunting]
[commentator] Well played.
But it is a game of survival,
not of the fittest,
but of the emotionally, and physically,
and mentally strong.
[commentator] Three match points
now for the champ.
[grunts]
[umpire] Game, Williams.
[Serena] I was so overwhelmed,
'cause I'd suppressed
so much of these feelings
'cause I always felt like
I had to be strong,
and I couldn't be open.
[reporter] Well, Serena, we can see here
what this win means to you,
an emotional day
after all you've been through recently.
Yeah, it's been
I usually don't cry,
so I don't understand it,
but it's just been so hard.
I just wanted to win
at least one match here,
so, you know,
it was really a big win for me.
I can't believe I made it back
from the hospital bed to Wimbledon.
[grunting]
I think I definitely
rushed back into it.
Yeah, I rushed back to tennis a lot.
It's my safety net.
It's what I know.
It makes me feel the most comfortable.
[grunting]
-[umpire] Game, Ms. Bartoli.
-[crowd applauding]
But I played Marion Bartoli
in the fourth round,
and I literally
was seeing stars.
[commentator 1] Fabulous.
[commentator 2] Right down the middle.
[speaks indistinctly]
from Serena at all,
but it's that split step.
It's that reaction.
[Serena] I could not breathe.
I literally could not breathe.
[commentator 2] It's just not
at 100% yet for Serena.
[yells indistinctly]
I'm gonna pass out out here.
I'm gonna pass out.
[commentator 1]
It's match point number four.
[grunts]
[Serena] I was happy that match ended,
but I was also sad to lose my title.
And then I just plummeted.
[reporter] Do you know
who Tatjana Malek is?
Well, she happens to be
the 174th ranked
tennis player in the world,
one spot higher
than Serena Williams,
who was number one,
and due to injury and inactivity,
is now ranked 175th in the world.
[Serena] I had one goal
going into the U.S. Open,
and that was to be seeded.
And that's an impossible goal,
just for the record,
'cause I'd fell to, like, 175.
There's no player that's that low,
and in the next two months
be seeded at the next Grand Slam.
That just doesn't happen,
but that was my goal.
So, I called Mackie,
'cause after Wimbledon,
I knew things had to change.
I've never seen stars on a court.
Like, clearly I'm not functioning right.
[Shilston] I said, "Serena, look,
I'm gonna tell you the truth.
We got a little bit
of necrose tissue in there.
That's a little bit
of dead tissue in there."
And so I pulled a trick
out of Navy SEAL training.
I went and got a big bleach bottle
that had two handles.
And in the SEAL training,
you had to go out in the deep end,
you fill it with water.
It's heavy, and you couldn't
let it sink you.
And then you had
to put it over your head,
and you had to tread water
until the water ran out.
Mackie, like, he threw me
into our pool, my pool,
in the deep end. [laughs]
[Shilston] She says,
"What do I have to do?"
I said, "Take this bleach bottle,
fill it with water, and tread water."
"I have to do what?"
I said, "Fill it all the way
and kick, scream,
whatever you wanna do,"
and hold that up until it's empty."
I couldn't breathe, and he was, like,
"If you don't swim, you're gonna die."
And he wouldn't let me
get out of the pool.
And I'm, like,
"I wanna get out." [laughs]
He's, like, "You're not getting out.
You better swim."
And I'm, like, "I don't wanna
Like, I can't.
Like, I'm not able to breathe."
He's like, "You gotta figure it out
and work through it."
And it was horrible.
I hated every second of it.
[Shilston] Well, she's going out.
She's there.
She's kicking and she's bobbing,
gasping for air, gasping.
And that's a real important point.
Gasping for air.
And so finally she did it.
She swims over to the side of the pool,
and she says, "I did it!"
And I looked at her, and I said,
"Yeah, I didn't see it.
Let's do it again."
And she said, "What?"
I said, "Do it again."
When I saw her months before
coming off the court,
bending over and gasping
[gasping]
I said, "if I could make you
survive that feeling,"
when she got in the competition,
she would know, "I've got this."
It definitely brought a tenacity
that I knew
I've always had tenacity.
I've always been a fighter.
I've always had to
Nothing that I've ever gotten was free.
This was almost like,
"Serena, this is what you're good at.
This is like hearing
that voice in the crowd,
saying, "You're not good at this.
Like, this is what makes you Serena.
You work hard."
-[grunts]
-[crowd applauding]
[commentator]
That's just two more from Serena.
And you're not gonna forget
how much you had to fight
to get to the top of the mountain.
I was on the top
of the mountain, you know?
And I desperately wanted
to get back there.
[reporter] Serena Williams
has been absolutely on fire
the last couple of matches,
but she faces a tough task
today against Bartoli,
the woman who beat her at Wimbledon.
[grunting]
[Bajin] She just finds ways
to push into these dark corners
of herself
where not many people wanna go,
but that she tries to push further
than I think she even herself
thought she can.
[grunting]
-[commentator] There it is.
-[crowd cheering and applauding]
Serena Williams
back as the champion.
[reporter] We wondered after Wimbledon
how long would it be
before Serena Williams
would reach her peak.
Well, here she is in another final.
[Serena] Being in that pool is
like moments that I won't forget
'cause it symbolized survival
of my sport.
[grunting]
Survival of being out there
and outlasting or outplaying
or just being better.
Because if I can survive this,
everything else is gonna be easier.
[commentator] A couple weeks ago,
her ranking was outside
of the top hundred.
Well, if she wins this title today,
she'll get back in the top 30,
which means she would be seeded
at the U.S. Open.
[Serena] Surely being in the hospital
for that whole year
was gonna be harder
than anything else
I'm gonna face on the court.
But at the end, it was worth it
'cause I never saw stars again.
[grunting]
[commentator]
And the sweet satisfaction.
[Serena] I went from 175
in the world
to seeded
in a matter of a few weeks.
[Bajin] I feel like
she's never stopped
proving herself right,
and to go from 175
to try to be top 30
in two months
she did it.
She did it. [laughs]
[Serena] I feel like I'm close to
getting back to where I wanna be.
I'm still dealing
with all the pressures
of no matter what happens to me,
deathbed or not,
I'm everyone's favorite,
which is kind of weird,
'cause it's, like,
no, no, no, no.
You just try to play,
but you're still a favorite.
[reporter] Of course,
Serena's the favorite by far.
Uh, she's been
the player to beat.
[Bajin] When the draw comes out,
because we had our seed,
we had a couple of matches early
against lower-ranked players
where Serena
kind of found her groove,
found her way
into the tournament.
Physically, I'd have to say
she looked sharp.
[Lee] To see her build
her confidence back,
it just makes me, like,
in awe of her even more.
-[umpire shouts indistinctly]
-Come on!
[Serena] For the first time
in forever, I had fun,
like, genuinely having fun
at this point.
Because I shouldn't
have even been there.
It was crazy for me
'cause it was, like,
I never thought
I would play tennis again,
and then I never thought
that I would be winning
on that level again.
[grunting]
And I just had to let
all that go,
and I just had to play
and just be grateful
for the moment of being there
and also play
the way I know I can play.
[Bajin] Playing Caroline Wozniacki
in the semifinals
of the U.S. Open,
she was the number one player
in the world,
and she was
one of those players
that you don't wanna have
on the other side.
She was so agile.
She was moving so well.
She is a counter puncher.
But Serena, I'm sorry,
just destroyed in the semifinals.
[grunting]
[cheering]
[reporter] Describe the emotions
you're feeling right now
being back in a U.S. Open final.
[Serena] I mean, it's so great.
It's just been
such an arduous, long road.
And I can't believe I'm
I can't believe it.
I really can't.
[Shilston] Climbing up
and surviving the climb
with all your baggage,
the risk you have
is that you gave it all
mentally and physically.
Now you won,
and now you gotta go play
tomorrow for the championship
and refocus and come
right back in the battle.
And that's not easy to do.
[commentator] Serena Williams.
You heard from the hospital
back to the court
and to the final
of the U.S. Open.
[Bajin] Samantha Stosur,
she's always known
to be an amazing competitor,
but somehow to miss
the last edge
to close the matches out.
I think 99% thought Serena's
gonna take this easy.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
But very, very aggressive
tennis player.
She has
a really good kick serve.
She has a big forehand topspin.
She loves to come in to the net.
[commentator]
And that is the sort of tennis
that Sam Stosur can play
when she's playing well.
Even someone
like a Serena Williams
can have days
where it just doesn't go.
[umpire] Game.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[commentator] Now three set points.
[grunting]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[commentator] Stosur's taking it
to Serena in this match.
But she tries really everything
to fire herself up.
Come on!
[umpire speaks indistinctly]
[commentator] Serena screams out
"Not so fast."
[Serena] Come on!
[crowd cheering and applauding]
That "come on" in the second set
there at the U.S. Open finals
is a way to find her way
into the match.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Serena] I said,
"Come on" too loud,
and the umpire felt
that I intentionally tried
to distract my opponent.
I don't intentionally try
to distract anyone at anything,
but I got penalized for that.
Sadly, the rules state
that if you hit,
and you yell while hitting,
you lose the point.
Ladies and gentlemen,
hindrance was called
during the rally.
-Point goes to Stosur.
-[crowd shouting indistinctly]
[umpire] Game, Stosur.
[commentator] You could hear.
She clearly screamed
before the ball was hit.
That's a major point.
That "come on".
I know why she does it.
I know when she does it
in that moment.
Serena was just looking,
obviously, in that match
for something to get her going.
It's just unfortunate
'cause I know Serena
is not out there
trying to argue
just for the argument's sake.
Nobody likes to argue on purpose
because you do lose energy.
You do lose focus.
[grunts]
[Serena] I became
a little unsure of myself.
[grunts]
[commentator] I mean,
that's a shot she never misses.
[grunts]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
I was just thinking, like,
will this ever happen again?
Like, I didn't think it would.
[commentator] And Serena's back
is now officially to the wall.
[Serena] How can I ever win
another Grand Slam?
Like, I don't have the lungs
that everyone else has.
I don't have
I'm not working with
Like, it doesn't seem realistic,
And so in the back of your mind,
you'll say you believe it.
Saying it is one thing,
and believing it is another.
[grunts]
[screams]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
I began to doubt, like,
whether I could not win,
but just
kind of just show up.
[grunts]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Serena] And I think ultimately,
she outplayed me.
I could have played better,
but I didn't.
I didn't show up.
And that day maybe
wasn't supposed to be mine.
But honestly, a year prior,
I was in the hospital,
and then a few months prior,
I was
didn't even think about tennis
because I just wanted
to think about living.
[amplified voice]
Thank you, gentlemen,
for letting me get this far.
It's been an arduous road.
Six months ago in the hospital,
I never thought I would be
standing here today.
-And, um, I
-[crowd cheering and applauding]
I didn't think I'd be standing,
let alone here.
So, you know, thanks to my mom
and my sisters and my dad,
and, you know,
Sascha and Esther,
and, um, Mackie has been great
on my team,
and, um, everyone over in my box
that's been so supportive.
It's been unbelievable.
[Bajin] Looking back
at what we've accomplished
as Team Serena, after surgery,
after the embolism,
after climbing 150 spots
almost in two months,
after going to the finals
of a Grand Slam,
which is
It's ridiculous, that achievement.
There's not many people
in this world
who achieved that.
But not winning the U.S. Open,
even though we came a long way,
was a blow to our team.
But looking back,
even though we didn't feel
that way in that moment,
we've been part of something amazing.
[Serena] Team Serena really helped me
because they helped pick me up
and say, "Listen, the fact
that you're even in the final
of the U.S. Open when you
couldn't breathe at Wimbledon,
which was just a few weeks ago,
is huge.
You've won two tournaments
leading up to this.
You're on the right path.
You are going to win again.
You just have to understand
you're doing amazing."
[Lee] To see her
go from rock bottom
to, you know, the long trek
towards recovery,
I'm just so proud of her fight.
[Shilston] Serena has
the ultimate focus,
intent, and purpose,
and I hope she never loses it.
[Serena] I made a great run of it
considering everything,
so I can't be that upset.
I'm actually not really upset.
UmI'm lying.
I was very upset.
Who am I kidding? I hated it.
Should I have been upset? No.
Me being Serena Williams? Livid.
But that's just who I am.
I like to compete,
I like to win, and I like
to try to be the best.
And I expect perfection
out of myself,
which is my biggest strength
and my biggest weakness.
[commentator 1]
Here at Roland-Garros,
pressure on Williams now
to break Henin.
[grunts]
-And there it is!
-[crowd cheering and applauding]
Eight-time grand slam winner
Serena Williams
dismissed in the quarterfinals.
She certainly didn't seem to be herself.
[commentator 2]
Serena was just not Serena today.
[Serena] Tennis is grueling.
A lot of people only see Wimbledon,
-or they only see the U.S. Open.
-[bell tolling]
They don't see the hundreds of matches
that you play before to get to that.
And some you win, and some you lose,
but it's every single week.
-It's in and out.
-[tires squeal]
And somehow
you have to still be motivated
to play at your best.
[announcer 1] Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome Serena Williams!
-[announcer 2] Serena Williams!
-[announcer 3] Serena Williams!
[Serena] It got really hard,
because being isolated
and being on the court
and then having to do
something so repetitive,
it's just the same thing in and out,
same routine every day
for years and years and years and years.
I wanna be good.
I wanna be great.
How do I get that?
[crowd cheering]
There was something that had to change.
It was about revamping.
Like, how do I do better?
How do I get more out of myself?
[commentator] I will only believe
Serena's out of this tournament
when I watch that plane leave
from the Melbourne airport.
[commentator 2]
She knows what it takes.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Serena] 2008, I'd been playing
for well over a decade.
Probably two decades.
It's a very long time to be playing.
You could see that
I wasn't myself on the court.
You could see that I'm just
I'm in anguish.
[commentator] The defending champ,
the three-time winner
of the Australian Open
out in the quarterfinals
in straight sets.
[Serena] There was something
that had to change.
Up to this point, my team had
really been a family business.
Venus and I always shared
hitting partners,
and at this point, I just needed my own.
I needed someone
that was gonna be 100% for me,
that was always gonna be there
if I needed to hit,
'cause I like to train a lot.
So, I needed to start working
on Team Serena.
All I know is Serena was looking
for a guy with no life.
[Serena] And so,
found Sascha in Germany.
He was just there coaching some kids.
Yeah, I was coaching
in an academy in Munich.
I got a phone call.
On a Saturday night,
I was out with friends.
I was having a drink or two,
and they asked me
if I wanted to practice
with Serena the next day.
So, I actually declined
because I knew that
if I practiced with her tomorrow,
she's never gonna practice with me again
because I'm not gonna be able to play
the way I need to play because
I was out partying, so
But luckily, they called back,
and I was, like, all right, whatever.
If I have to play with Serena Williams,
I will do it. I was like, if I must.
Obviously, I rushed back home,
dropped the party,
went with a bicycle to the courts.
We practiced four or five days,
and we somehow clicked.
We instantly meshed.
He was such a funny guy.
He was so young
when he first joined my team.
Basically I even left my bike.
I haven't picked up my bike.
It might be still
at the tennis club chained
if nobody stole it, to be honest.
But left with Serena.
And I remember her
trying to build a team.
[Serena] He was one of
the first people
that joined Team Serena.
Team Serena was small.
It started out with just Sascha,
then Team Serena was growing.
It's like a business.
[Esther Lee] Oh, gosh,
when I met Serena,
I remember she walked in.
She was reading this children's book
called Fablehaven, and I
was just working on her, and
And she just started asking me
all these personal questions.
[Serena] I was, like, whoa.
You're really good.
Put my book down, and I started
asking her questions.
I was like, "So, where are you from?
Where do you live?"
And I thought, oh, wow,
she's so friendly.
[Serena] "Oh, are you working?
Are you working full-time?
What do you think about tennis?
Have you ever traveled?"
As she kept going, I was, like,
oh, this kind of feels
like an interview. [laughs]
[Serena] It was not a job interview.
I was there to get treatment,
and then I was, like, wow,
this young lady is really special.
And at that point, I was thinking,
well, Esther needs to be on our team.
[Lee] And so she asked
on her second treatment, like,
"Would you want to travel
with, um, myself and Venus?"
You know, it was no question.
[laughs]
[engine roaring]
[Serena] I'm always about improving.
I love inviting people into my camp
that are different and work differently.
And then my mom tells me
about this guy Mackie.
So, we make a trip out of it.
We go to New Orleans,
and we meet Mackie.
Well, the toughest thing
for me to try and figure out
is what am I?
I've been called everything
from a nutritionist
to a physical therapist like Esther.
I've been called a trainer.
I'm none of that.
I'm in the field
of performance management.
It really started in 1985,
moving Michael Spinks,
who was the 1976 Olympic champion,
-up to heavyweight.
-[bell rings]
And when Michael Spinks defeated
reigning champion Larry Holmes,
my name got put all over the world.
[Serena] Mackie talks a lot.
-A lot.
-[Shilston] You come into my world,
I'mma put you in a DEXA scan
where I can see your bone, muscle,
and blood down to the gram.
I'm gonna have you taken apart
with a physical therapy
biomechanical analysis.
And then I'm gonna tell you
if you can survive three weeks
of me, you gon' be okay.
[Serena] I honestly don't think
I remember much
out of that first meeting except for,
"I like this guy.
I like this guy. We're gonna
have a lot of fun together."
Every few years,
I changed how I trained
to retrain my body to be better.
And Mackie was a part
of the next few years
where I'm interested to see
where he can take me.
You know, crazy Mackie.
Where we gonna go with this?
[grunts]
[Shilston] So, Serena
had a standout record,
but when I said, "Serena, I need
to see some type of video,
the best of Serena,"
and she looked at me,
and she said, "Mackie,
I don't have it to show to you."
I said, "Why?"
'Cause she says,
"I've never been at my best.
She says,
"Help me get back to number one."
I said, "Okay."
And so I don't approach anything
the normal way,
because my mindset is
if you keep doing it the same way,
you'll get the same outcome.
I loved that Mackie
worked with different athletes.
I mean, you look at boxers.
They have the best footwork
in all of sport.
And I believe that if you have
different elements
of different sport, you can
really bring 'em into your sport
and hone it and be the best at it.
[Shilston] Well, I'm a cog in a wheel.
I join a team.
My job was to take her apart.
Esther's job
was to put her back together.
Sascha's job
was to keep the ball in play.
[Bajin] When you work
with someone like Serena,
we've had a lot, a lot of long days.
[Serena] When I'm on the practice court,
I'm not gonna waste time
and just kind of
go through the motions.
Like, it was about perfecting
every single shot
to make it as perfect as I could.
[commentator] Oh, boy, that one,
round about chest high,
that was hammered, that forehand.
[Lee] She was just dominating
during that time,
and I felt like
she was this strong train
that was moving along,
and I just had to kind of
help it carry on.
It wasn't easy.
It was a lot of hard work.
But I felt like I just
had to keep that train going.
[crowd applauding]
[Bajin] When Team Serena was formed,
you know something good
is happening.
Like, you could feel that
these three, four people,
this core group
all pushing with the same goal,
what can't we achieve?
Ahhh! Come on!
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Serena] We were such good friends.
Like, we just always hung out.
We would just always
have so much fun.
It was just, like,
such a good opportunity
just to just be yourself,
and that was really important
for me to have.
Ahhh! [laughs]
[Serena] And I felt like
I was really, really improving.
[commentator] Serena's trying
to declare herself once again
as the number one player in the world.
It's been far too long.
[crowd cheers]
[grunting]
[commentator] Incredible game,
and now it's match point for Serena.
[grunts]
The 2008 U.S. Open champion
Serena Williams!
[cheering]
[Shilston] We just won number one,
and she calls me up,
and I said,
"Serena, number one was yesterday.
Don't tell me that you hit a home run
at your last at bat.
What are you gonna do for me now?
What's gonna happen
at your next at bat?"
Because the easiest thing in my book
is to win
the world heavyweight championship.
I've done it multiple times.
Toughest thing in the world is hold it.
[Serena] I was fanatical.
I was nuts about
"How do I stay number one?"
How do I stay the best?
[commentator] Serena Williams
looking for her 10th Grand Slam title.
[grunting]
[crowd gasps and applauds]
-[umpire] Out!
-[crowd cheering]
[Bajin] From 2008 to 2010,
she really did win a lot then.
She regained her status
after having a couple of moderate years
for her own capabilities.
[grunting]
[crowd gasps]
[grunts]
[commentator] She picks up
her third Wimbledon title.
[Bajin] I didn't wanna blink
because I was afraid
I'm gonna miss something.
Even she can be down,
and I still don't wanna believe it.
I still wanna put my money on Serena.
[commentator]
Henin is firing everything at her.
[umpire shouts indistinctly]
[commentator]
Williams frazzled at the moment.
[Serena] Australian Open 2010,
was in the third set.
I think I'd lost the first game
or whatever.
And this guy was like,
"Serena, you can beat Serena.
She's not all that good."
[man in crowd shouting indistinctly]
[Serena] So, when that guy yells that,
I'm thinking to myself,
first of all, like, seriously?
I'm not good? Okay.
We all know that's not true.
And I looked at the guy,
and I thought [scoffs]
okay, I'm gonna show you what good is.
[commentator] Biggest point
of the finals right here.
[Serena] Part of me likes to be doubted.
I think I need that someone
to say something,
and it just fires me up,
but I'm, like, okay,
I'm gonna prove you wrong.
I kinda like it.
[commentator] Yes, sir.
What a competitor.
Oh, yeah, that's
the biggest mistake you can do
is you poke the sleeping bear.
[umpire] Game, Williams.
[Bajin] You could see
that there was a reset in her,
and she's just refusing to lose.
She's just determined
to prove this person wrong.
[commentator]
Serena Williams will be serving
for her fifth Australian Open crown.
[umpire] Game, set, match, Williams.
[commentator]
Another fighting performance.
Another performance
where she's been down at times,
but she's never out,
and that's why she is a champion.
[Bajin] I've had
these situations with her
throughout her career,
and it's just a display
of her really refusing to accept
that the other girl
might be better that day.
[Serena] That's just my personality.
It's just this piece of my brain
that turns on,
and it clicks and just makes
this insane individual
that just doesn't stop.
[commentator] Three champions points
for Serena Williams.
[crowd cheering]
She's the champion again!
Number 13, a lucky number
for Serena Williams.
[crowd continues cheering]
[Serena] So,
after I won Wimbledon,
I was really, really focused.
And I was super excited
for hardcourt season
with the goal of winning
the U.S. Open in 2010.
But I stayed in Europe because
I had an exhibition to play.
And I go to this bar in Germany.
And I was at the bar,
and this guy, like, kind of like
shoved me or whatever,
and I'm thinking, dude, like, chill.
And next thing I know, I felt
something warm on my foot.
And then I'm leaving,
and take, like, a step,
and I step on some glass.
[glass shatters]
Everything happened
just so fast,
like, her limping and then
saying something like, "Ahhh."
Then I looked down,
and there was a puddle of blood.
I had one cut
on my right foot on top.
That's when I felt the warm.
Like, I didn't feel anything.
I just felt like my foot
was warm. I don't
To this day,
I don't know what happened.
And then on my other foot,
I had, like, a whole giant cut
on the bottom.
So, it was on both of my feet.
I felt so bad and guilty
because I feel like I'm responsible
'cause she was in my city.
Um, I remember right after,
calling an ambulance.
[Serena] This is where
it gets a little fuzzy for me,
'cause I lost so much blood.
I remember getting in an ambulance,
and then that's all I remember.
Blacked out.
I didn't know how bad my injury was.
All the doctors were saying that it was,
"Oh, it's just a tear,"
even though my foot,
even though my toe's not moving.
And I'm telling 'em, I said,
"You know my toe is not moving.
I can't move my toe."
And they're like, "No, you know,
it's fine. It'll come back."
So, I didn't think it was that bad.
And so I went to a doctor in L.A.,
and he fixed it.
But it didn't work. It re-tore.
So, after the first surgery didn't work,
the doctors were saying,
"You don't have to fix it.
You can play for another
30 years if you want.
It's not gonna affect your career."
I said, "Well, will it affect my life?"
And they're like,
"You'll just never be able
to move your big toe.
So, do you want to live
with a limp toe?" [laughs]
Or Or what?
And so they told me just to,
"Live life for three days.
Do things that you would
normally do
and see how you feel."
So I said, "Okay. I tried to do things,
everything that I would
normally do,
I did in three days."
I tried to wear heels.
What was that experience
of putting on shoes?
And then I rode my bike, and I fell.
[bicycle crashes]
Skinned my face. I still have, like,
this awful mark on my face.
I skinned my shoulder,
which is a disaster.
It was like this. I hate this.
I don't wanna live the rest of my life
not being able to move my toe.
Like, I love tennis,
and I love my career,
and I love that I could train right now
and come back and play.
I really do, but I don't wanna
live the rest of my life
regretting that
I didn't get that surgery.
So, I ended up
getting a second surgery.
The second surgery, that was hard.
And the doctor fixed it.
My toe can move,
but he said,
"This is gonna be a long road."
And I was like, [hesitantly] "Okay."
[reporter 1] Serena Williams
out for the U.S. Open,
a medical foot fault.
It will be Williams' first major miss
since the '06 Wimbledon.
[reporter 2] This is what Serena
had to say in a statement.
"Not being able to be part
of this year's U.S. Open
is one of the most devastating
moments of my career."
[Lee] When you're
going through injuries,
that's when you really
have to take it day by day,
because especially as an elite athlete,
they don't have patience
when it comes to injury,
and they just wanna get back on court.
They just wanna get back training.
But recovery from surgery takes time.
[fireworks popping and whistling]
[Serena] 2011, my foot was doing better.
Clearly, this surgery is gonna work,
so I'm still getting therapy on it.
I go to L.A. during the All Star weekend
'cause I always throw
this party every year.
I'm walking in the airport with Esther,
and she's like,
"Why are you breathing so hard?"
And I'm like,
"I know I'm out of shape."
[laughs]
Like, I'm out of shape. It's okay.
But when I'm telling her this,
I can't walk.
So, I have to literally stop,
and I have to talk to her.
Like, look, this is crazy.
She's, like,
"I don't know what's wrong."
Like, you know, she showed me her leg,
and from the knee down,
it was so swollen.
Prior to me working with her,
she had mentioned
that she had a blood clot
from a knee surgery.
And somehow that just
kind of came into my mind
that she had a history of a blood clot,
and I was like, this kind of looks like
she has a blood clot.
So, I was telling her, like, you know,
"We should go to the ER.
We just gotta check and make sure."
Esther, like, insists
Insists that I go.
So, I'm going to Cedars
in L.A.,
and every test they take is negative.
Like, there's nothing wrong with me.
Like, I'm fine.
I'm, like, "See, Esther?
Like, there's nothing wrong with me.
I can go home."
[Lee] They come back,
and they're, like,
"There's no blood clot.
Like, she's good. She's clear."
And, you know,
meanwhile Serena's laying in there
'cause it's taking forever
to do all these tests,
and she's, like, "I hate you, Esther.
I hate you. Like, I gotta go.
I got, you know, places to go."
I have a house party
in another 90 minutes.
I'm hosting this event.
I remember talking to one of the nurses,
and I was, like, you know,
"You can't
You can't release her
because she can't breathe."
And I kept pushing it.
Like, you know, you need
to thoroughly examine."
So, they decided to do a CT scan.
Immediately, they found that
she had multiple
blood clots in her lungs.
[Serena] So what the doctors
discovered with the very last
test was that I, um,
had a pulmonary embolism
bilaterally, so in both lungs.
It was just a matter of hours
at this point
if I didn't get this treated
that I would just black out
and never wake up.
[Lee] Usually a blood clot
will develop in the leg or the pelvis,
and because it's in your blood system,
it can get dislodged.
And it just travels through
your circulatory system,
and it'll go through the heart,
go through the lungs.
And a pulmonary embolism
is when that blood clot is released
and then kind of blocks out
the arteries in your lung,
and you can die, like, instantly.
And so it was so quick,
like, went to the ICU,
and immediately they came
to pick her up for surgery.
[monitor beeping steadily]
[ticking]
After surgery,
she was monitored,
put on blood thinners.
[beeps]
[Serena] It was a really hard time.
Here I go from winning,
you know, Australia,
winning Wimbledon [sighs]
And then I'm ready
to win the Open,
and then now I'm literally
on my deathbed.
I was really scared.
Here you are thinking that,
oh, I wanna win the Open,
and now I started thinking, oh,
I just I wanna live.
That was literally my thought.
It went from winning the Open
to just wanting to live.
I didn't wanna do anything else.
Actually, I didn't even
wanna play tennis.
I was, like,
I don't care about anything.
I just wanna, like
I just wanna be able
to survive, you know.
You never think about death
when you're living
because you just don't think about it.
And then you're there,
and it's just, like,
who cares about winning
Grand Slams, you know?
Who cares about winning
the U.S. Open or Wimbledon?
Like, this is
My life is so much more important.
Like, I just would rather be alive.
[Bajin] That year that she had,
it just kept going from bad luck
to bad luck to bad luck.
And I felt like because
everything that happened in Munich,
I feel like I've
I've started a snowball effect on her
which she can't get out of.
[reporter] It happened just a few days
after she won Wimbledon.
Serena Williams cut her foot
on broken glass.
Serena then suffered
life-threatening blood clots
in her lungs.
She simply called it the disaster.
[Serena] I had to give myself
injections every day
to thin my blood to make sure
the blood clot would stay gone.
The worst part is pricking.
Like, once you get over
the prick, you're good.
And I'm injecting in the stomach,
and, like, my stomach,
like, starts to get
a little circle on it.
And I'm, like, what's happening?
And every day it gets bigger
and bigger and bigger,
and it's, like, now I have, like,
this little ball on my stomach.
So I go to the doctor,
and I guess I injected,
and I hit a blood vessel,
which the doctor says
is like one in a billion.
They're, like,
"Yeah, you have, like, a hematoma.
"We have to surgically drain it."
And I'm, like,
"You gotta be kidding me."
I ended up back in the hospital,
and then they put this drain on me,
which I named Grover.
And this drain is in me
for, like, a week
to, like, drain out this hematoma.
And at that point,
I was, like, that's it.
Like, I can't do any more of this.
Like, one thing after another
after another.
[Lee] It felt like a marathon
because for her, she was just, like,
"Ugh! what now?"
And that was kind of one of,
I think,
one of the lowest points
I've seen her at.
I think she kind of hit rock bottom.
You know,
she just felt like she was helpless.
Like, "Why do all these things
keep happening?"
And And I just
I just sat with her,
and I, like, prayed with her.
And I said, you know,
God doesn't give you
more than you can handle.
[Serena] She's, like,
"You need to pray.
Like, if you've had enough,
you need to pray
and say, 'God, I cannot handle
any more.
You said you'll never give me
more than what I can handle,
and I can't handle any more.'"
And that meant so much
to me because
[voice breaking] I was, like, I can't.
I literally can't take any more.
Like, how much more, like
I don't think I'm able
to take any more right now.
I need a break.
And I remember just praying
and saying, "Jehovah, I can't
Like, I just need help."
And then things
turned around from there.
Like, I just
Things started to finally get better,
and I really was grateful for Esther
just taking me aside
and just bringing me back
to what I needed to hear.
-[Lee] Hi, Dr. Dreesen.
-[Serena] It's Serena and Esther.
[Dr. Dreesen]
How are you guys doing?
Fantastic, fantastic news.
Your chest CT scan
shows absolutely nothing.
I am hereby officially
certifying you all good.
-[Lee] Wow.
-Oh, thank God.
[Lee] Congrats.
[Dr. Dreesen] You are now clearl
okay to restart all training,
as much training as you possibly can.
You're good to go.
I'm alive. My foot's good.
Mackie, let's go. Sascha, let's go.
[Shilston] We were given the all clear,
but she came off the court,
and she came over to her chair
like I'm sitting in,
and just bent over and went [gasping]
[Serena] I didn't have
full function of my lungs.
When the embolism enters it,
it kills it, and it turns black.
So, a lot of my lung is just not there.
[whistle blows]
[Lee] Not only do you have now
a compromised ability to breathe,
she was also recovering
from the foot injury as well.
So, we had a lot of layers,
and as a world-class athlete,
you're starting here,
and you've got way so far to go.
[Serena] There is no secret sauce.
I wouldn't let anyone outwork me.
It's all about tennis,
and it's all about rehab.
That's kind of your whole life.
[Bajin] I really wish people could see
how much pain, how much struggling,
how much you have to be willing
to sacrifice everything
in order to just be
the best version of herself.
[Serena] Our saying
in our internal camp was,
from the hospital bed to the podium,
you just work hard and you work
and you work and you work.
Before I know it,
I was back on tour.
[reporter] Serena's back.
It has been almost
one full calendar year
since she played an official match.
[Serena] I wasn't gonna
not play Wimbledon.
I had to defend my title.
I already missed defending my title
in Australia,
and that's terrible.
You don't even get to play.
And so for me, it was, like,
okay, well, I can at least try.
[grunting]
[Bajin] The fact that
she was willing to go out there,
knowing that maybe
she should have taken
another month or two,
but it's Wimbledon, and it's Serena.
And I'll tell you now,
as long as this woman
can walk and breathe
and hold a racket,
I think she should go to Wimbledon.
[grunting]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
There's one thing to practice,
but it's a whole different level
to compete.
You don't know
if you're coming back too soon.
[audience gasps]
[commentator] Oh!
[Lee] It was very nerve-racking,
but with her, she's just got
so much mental determination,
and you can't compare that
to anybody else,
honestly with anyone
I've ever worked with.
[grunting]
[commentator] Well played.
But it is a game of survival,
not of the fittest,
but of the emotionally, and physically,
and mentally strong.
[commentator] Three match points
now for the champ.
[grunts]
[umpire] Game, Williams.
[Serena] I was so overwhelmed,
'cause I'd suppressed
so much of these feelings
'cause I always felt like
I had to be strong,
and I couldn't be open.
[reporter] Well, Serena, we can see here
what this win means to you,
an emotional day
after all you've been through recently.
Yeah, it's been
I usually don't cry,
so I don't understand it,
but it's just been so hard.
I just wanted to win
at least one match here,
so, you know,
it was really a big win for me.
I can't believe I made it back
from the hospital bed to Wimbledon.
[grunting]
I think I definitely
rushed back into it.
Yeah, I rushed back to tennis a lot.
It's my safety net.
It's what I know.
It makes me feel the most comfortable.
[grunting]
-[umpire] Game, Ms. Bartoli.
-[crowd applauding]
But I played Marion Bartoli
in the fourth round,
and I literally
was seeing stars.
[commentator 1] Fabulous.
[commentator 2] Right down the middle.
[speaks indistinctly]
from Serena at all,
but it's that split step.
It's that reaction.
[Serena] I could not breathe.
I literally could not breathe.
[commentator 2] It's just not
at 100% yet for Serena.
[yells indistinctly]
I'm gonna pass out out here.
I'm gonna pass out.
[commentator 1]
It's match point number four.
[grunts]
[Serena] I was happy that match ended,
but I was also sad to lose my title.
And then I just plummeted.
[reporter] Do you know
who Tatjana Malek is?
Well, she happens to be
the 174th ranked
tennis player in the world,
one spot higher
than Serena Williams,
who was number one,
and due to injury and inactivity,
is now ranked 175th in the world.
[Serena] I had one goal
going into the U.S. Open,
and that was to be seeded.
And that's an impossible goal,
just for the record,
'cause I'd fell to, like, 175.
There's no player that's that low,
and in the next two months
be seeded at the next Grand Slam.
That just doesn't happen,
but that was my goal.
So, I called Mackie,
'cause after Wimbledon,
I knew things had to change.
I've never seen stars on a court.
Like, clearly I'm not functioning right.
[Shilston] I said, "Serena, look,
I'm gonna tell you the truth.
We got a little bit
of necrose tissue in there.
That's a little bit
of dead tissue in there."
And so I pulled a trick
out of Navy SEAL training.
I went and got a big bleach bottle
that had two handles.
And in the SEAL training,
you had to go out in the deep end,
you fill it with water.
It's heavy, and you couldn't
let it sink you.
And then you had
to put it over your head,
and you had to tread water
until the water ran out.
Mackie, like, he threw me
into our pool, my pool,
in the deep end. [laughs]
[Shilston] She says,
"What do I have to do?"
I said, "Take this bleach bottle,
fill it with water, and tread water."
"I have to do what?"
I said, "Fill it all the way
and kick, scream,
whatever you wanna do,"
and hold that up until it's empty."
I couldn't breathe, and he was, like,
"If you don't swim, you're gonna die."
And he wouldn't let me
get out of the pool.
And I'm, like,
"I wanna get out." [laughs]
He's, like, "You're not getting out.
You better swim."
And I'm, like, "I don't wanna
Like, I can't.
Like, I'm not able to breathe."
He's like, "You gotta figure it out
and work through it."
And it was horrible.
I hated every second of it.
[Shilston] Well, she's going out.
She's there.
She's kicking and she's bobbing,
gasping for air, gasping.
And that's a real important point.
Gasping for air.
And so finally she did it.
She swims over to the side of the pool,
and she says, "I did it!"
And I looked at her, and I said,
"Yeah, I didn't see it.
Let's do it again."
And she said, "What?"
I said, "Do it again."
When I saw her months before
coming off the court,
bending over and gasping
[gasping]
I said, "if I could make you
survive that feeling,"
when she got in the competition,
she would know, "I've got this."
It definitely brought a tenacity
that I knew
I've always had tenacity.
I've always been a fighter.
I've always had to
Nothing that I've ever gotten was free.
This was almost like,
"Serena, this is what you're good at.
This is like hearing
that voice in the crowd,
saying, "You're not good at this.
Like, this is what makes you Serena.
You work hard."
-[grunts]
-[crowd applauding]
[commentator]
That's just two more from Serena.
And you're not gonna forget
how much you had to fight
to get to the top of the mountain.
I was on the top
of the mountain, you know?
And I desperately wanted
to get back there.
[reporter] Serena Williams
has been absolutely on fire
the last couple of matches,
but she faces a tough task
today against Bartoli,
the woman who beat her at Wimbledon.
[grunting]
[Bajin] She just finds ways
to push into these dark corners
of herself
where not many people wanna go,
but that she tries to push further
than I think she even herself
thought she can.
[grunting]
-[commentator] There it is.
-[crowd cheering and applauding]
Serena Williams
back as the champion.
[reporter] We wondered after Wimbledon
how long would it be
before Serena Williams
would reach her peak.
Well, here she is in another final.
[Serena] Being in that pool is
like moments that I won't forget
'cause it symbolized survival
of my sport.
[grunting]
Survival of being out there
and outlasting or outplaying
or just being better.
Because if I can survive this,
everything else is gonna be easier.
[commentator] A couple weeks ago,
her ranking was outside
of the top hundred.
Well, if she wins this title today,
she'll get back in the top 30,
which means she would be seeded
at the U.S. Open.
[Serena] Surely being in the hospital
for that whole year
was gonna be harder
than anything else
I'm gonna face on the court.
But at the end, it was worth it
'cause I never saw stars again.
[grunting]
[commentator]
And the sweet satisfaction.
[Serena] I went from 175
in the world
to seeded
in a matter of a few weeks.
[Bajin] I feel like
she's never stopped
proving herself right,
and to go from 175
to try to be top 30
in two months
she did it.
She did it. [laughs]
[Serena] I feel like I'm close to
getting back to where I wanna be.
I'm still dealing
with all the pressures
of no matter what happens to me,
deathbed or not,
I'm everyone's favorite,
which is kind of weird,
'cause it's, like,
no, no, no, no.
You just try to play,
but you're still a favorite.
[reporter] Of course,
Serena's the favorite by far.
Uh, she's been
the player to beat.
[Bajin] When the draw comes out,
because we had our seed,
we had a couple of matches early
against lower-ranked players
where Serena
kind of found her groove,
found her way
into the tournament.
Physically, I'd have to say
she looked sharp.
[Lee] To see her build
her confidence back,
it just makes me, like,
in awe of her even more.
-[umpire shouts indistinctly]
-Come on!
[Serena] For the first time
in forever, I had fun,
like, genuinely having fun
at this point.
Because I shouldn't
have even been there.
It was crazy for me
'cause it was, like,
I never thought
I would play tennis again,
and then I never thought
that I would be winning
on that level again.
[grunting]
And I just had to let
all that go,
and I just had to play
and just be grateful
for the moment of being there
and also play
the way I know I can play.
[Bajin] Playing Caroline Wozniacki
in the semifinals
of the U.S. Open,
she was the number one player
in the world,
and she was
one of those players
that you don't wanna have
on the other side.
She was so agile.
She was moving so well.
She is a counter puncher.
But Serena, I'm sorry,
just destroyed in the semifinals.
[grunting]
[cheering]
[reporter] Describe the emotions
you're feeling right now
being back in a U.S. Open final.
[Serena] I mean, it's so great.
It's just been
such an arduous, long road.
And I can't believe I'm
I can't believe it.
I really can't.
[Shilston] Climbing up
and surviving the climb
with all your baggage,
the risk you have
is that you gave it all
mentally and physically.
Now you won,
and now you gotta go play
tomorrow for the championship
and refocus and come
right back in the battle.
And that's not easy to do.
[commentator] Serena Williams.
You heard from the hospital
back to the court
and to the final
of the U.S. Open.
[Bajin] Samantha Stosur,
she's always known
to be an amazing competitor,
but somehow to miss
the last edge
to close the matches out.
I think 99% thought Serena's
gonna take this easy.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
But very, very aggressive
tennis player.
She has
a really good kick serve.
She has a big forehand topspin.
She loves to come in to the net.
[commentator]
And that is the sort of tennis
that Sam Stosur can play
when she's playing well.
Even someone
like a Serena Williams
can have days
where it just doesn't go.
[umpire] Game.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[commentator] Now three set points.
[grunting]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[commentator] Stosur's taking it
to Serena in this match.
But she tries really everything
to fire herself up.
Come on!
[umpire speaks indistinctly]
[commentator] Serena screams out
"Not so fast."
[Serena] Come on!
[crowd cheering and applauding]
That "come on" in the second set
there at the U.S. Open finals
is a way to find her way
into the match.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Serena] I said,
"Come on" too loud,
and the umpire felt
that I intentionally tried
to distract my opponent.
I don't intentionally try
to distract anyone at anything,
but I got penalized for that.
Sadly, the rules state
that if you hit,
and you yell while hitting,
you lose the point.
Ladies and gentlemen,
hindrance was called
during the rally.
-Point goes to Stosur.
-[crowd shouting indistinctly]
[umpire] Game, Stosur.
[commentator] You could hear.
She clearly screamed
before the ball was hit.
That's a major point.
That "come on".
I know why she does it.
I know when she does it
in that moment.
Serena was just looking,
obviously, in that match
for something to get her going.
It's just unfortunate
'cause I know Serena
is not out there
trying to argue
just for the argument's sake.
Nobody likes to argue on purpose
because you do lose energy.
You do lose focus.
[grunts]
[Serena] I became
a little unsure of myself.
[grunts]
[commentator] I mean,
that's a shot she never misses.
[grunts]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
I was just thinking, like,
will this ever happen again?
Like, I didn't think it would.
[commentator] And Serena's back
is now officially to the wall.
[Serena] How can I ever win
another Grand Slam?
Like, I don't have the lungs
that everyone else has.
I don't have
I'm not working with
Like, it doesn't seem realistic,
And so in the back of your mind,
you'll say you believe it.
Saying it is one thing,
and believing it is another.
[grunts]
[screams]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
I began to doubt, like,
whether I could not win,
but just
kind of just show up.
[grunts]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Serena] And I think ultimately,
she outplayed me.
I could have played better,
but I didn't.
I didn't show up.
And that day maybe
wasn't supposed to be mine.
But honestly, a year prior,
I was in the hospital,
and then a few months prior,
I was
didn't even think about tennis
because I just wanted
to think about living.
[amplified voice]
Thank you, gentlemen,
for letting me get this far.
It's been an arduous road.
Six months ago in the hospital,
I never thought I would be
standing here today.
-And, um, I
-[crowd cheering and applauding]
I didn't think I'd be standing,
let alone here.
So, you know, thanks to my mom
and my sisters and my dad,
and, you know,
Sascha and Esther,
and, um, Mackie has been great
on my team,
and, um, everyone over in my box
that's been so supportive.
It's been unbelievable.
[Bajin] Looking back
at what we've accomplished
as Team Serena, after surgery,
after the embolism,
after climbing 150 spots
almost in two months,
after going to the finals
of a Grand Slam,
which is
It's ridiculous, that achievement.
There's not many people
in this world
who achieved that.
But not winning the U.S. Open,
even though we came a long way,
was a blow to our team.
But looking back,
even though we didn't feel
that way in that moment,
we've been part of something amazing.
[Serena] Team Serena really helped me
because they helped pick me up
and say, "Listen, the fact
that you're even in the final
of the U.S. Open when you
couldn't breathe at Wimbledon,
which was just a few weeks ago,
is huge.
You've won two tournaments
leading up to this.
You're on the right path.
You are going to win again.
You just have to understand
you're doing amazing."
[Lee] To see her
go from rock bottom
to, you know, the long trek
towards recovery,
I'm just so proud of her fight.
[Shilston] Serena has
the ultimate focus,
intent, and purpose,
and I hope she never loses it.
[Serena] I made a great run of it
considering everything,
so I can't be that upset.
I'm actually not really upset.
UmI'm lying.
I was very upset.
Who am I kidding? I hated it.
Should I have been upset? No.
Me being Serena Williams? Livid.
But that's just who I am.
I like to compete,
I like to win, and I like
to try to be the best.
And I expect perfection
out of myself,
which is my biggest strength
and my biggest weakness.