1999- New York, US opens

17-year-old Serena was not considered a contender for the title, She had picked up three titles of her career earlier in the year at Paris, Indian Wells and Los Angeles, she was playing well, but has never won a grand slam.

 !999 US opens had many ex grands-slam champions playing, nobody thought Serena Williams will go very far with many big names

Serena showed her fighting spirit, battling back from 3-5 down in the third set to beat Kim Clijsters in the fourth round,

She then went on to face a  parade of Champions No.4 seed Monica Seles  in an electric night match, 4-6 6-3 6-2, and then the No.2 seed and new Wimbledon champion Lindsay Davenport in the semi-finals, 6-4 1-6 6-4.

She met the reigning world’s number one Martina Hingis at the finals

Martina Hingis was the youngest player to win a Grand Slam at the age of 16, with four grandslams under her belt and over 12 singles title.

The year she met with Serena at the US open finals, she had already clinched an Australian open grand-slam – She was the clear favorite to win.

I always said I was going to win a Grand Slam, and next thing I know, I’d won, beating the No.1 player in the world. Hingis was really dominating everyone at that time, so I was glad to get that one because I kind of deep starting my career.‘

SereNa williams

Serena Dispatched Martina Hingis in two straight sets 6-3,7-6. As Serena Clutched her chest with disbelief and shock at her first grand slam, and her parents rejoiced in the sidelines, she did not realize a new order has been born.

for the next 20 years she would dominate and redefine the game of Tennis, everyone would up their game to play her, defeating Serena would become a defining career moment for many players in the game!

Check out that celebration, Yep that’s the passion that kept her for so long.

Today, 20 years on she plays semi-finals at Wimbledon with  Barbora Strycova’- weather she wins or lose, she is done a good job still staying in the game after battling a difficult child birth , dealing with blood clots and injuries #GOAT