Game 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 seeing the prize money was $750,000. 15, 40. I got in my head a little bit too much, and I just started to crumble. 30, 40. It's one of the worst ways you can think is thinking, Oh, I have this in my pocket. Very rare have I thought that way. Consciously, because I know consciously, it's the kiss of death. Dame Hingis. I cannot go three sets with Hinkes. I was like, I cannot go three three sets with Martine Hinkes. She's going to destroy me in three sets. And by then, I was getting tired. She's not really forcing the issue, is she, John? She's allowing Serena Williams to self-destruct. Then I'm missing shots. Dan Angus. I'm like, I'm going to stop missing. Remember when you were a junior, you would just hit lobs and drop shots. Don't miss. Game, Hinges. Hinges 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. I start 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 can miss. All of a sudden, the ball comes, and I'm looking at the ball, and I hit a ball as hard as I could down the line. Williams, two points away. I just like, I'm not going to miss. There's no way I'm going to miss. So I serve, and then I just don't miss. I don't care if we have to do a thousand balls I'm literally not going to miss because I can't go three sets with you. And I was just like, Serena, hit your back hand. Don't miss. Hit your back hand. Don't miss. The tournament was definitely filled with so much history there. 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. I felt so relieved. I was like, Oh, my God, I just won the open. And I was jumping, and I was super happy. But inside Inside my soul, it was an act because 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. From the public courts of Compton, California, to US Open champion. Everything that led up to that moment, Gains 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. Ladies and gentlemen, the 1999 US Open Women's Singles champion, Serena Williams. 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 We all get caught up in our inner struggle, and I was in my own inner struggles.

I think I was still in the past in my own match way too much instead of enjoying the moment. 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, 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 Everything that she had went through. Right after I walked off 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 never experienced had that much adrenaline where it literally took away my pain for two matches, which is a period of four days. Wow, I don't know. I guess I have a lot of requests to go on the day show and stuff. I didn't think about that. The minute I left that press conference, I couldn't see it at the time, but I had a big red X on my back. Girls would talk in the locker room about how they had to beat us.

It became us this against everyone else, and then eventually it came 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. Compelling. The first episode of In the Arena, Serena Williams is streaming now on ESPN+.