Serena Williams on How She Became Serena Williams

I always knew I was going to be a professional player.

That was the dream.

My dad always told me I was going to be a professional.

I believed it.

[hard-hitting electronic music]

Starting tennis super young, it's just,

it's a part of you, and it's just in you,

and it's just this innate feeling,

and I think the older I got, because I did it so long,

this passion developed to reach goals.

I had my first competitive match

when I was incredibly young.

I remember playing that match in 1997,

and I always really loved Monica.

I always just wanted to play like Monica.

She was my favorite player,

and growing up, I wanted to be just like her.

I wanted to hit like, I wanted to play like her.

Having the opportunity to play her was like,

All right, cool, I got this.

I knew her game, 'cause I watched her so much,

and I wanted to go into the next Grand Slam

and not have to be in the qualifying.

So, for me, it was like,

I have to win these matches.

I have to do well in this tournament.

I worked so hard to qualify for the Australian Open,

and that's why the Monica Seles win meant a lot to me,

because it meant I qualified for the Australian Open.

It was really, really huge, and then,

to qualify to play the number six seed immediately,

is not the easiest way to go.

I played her before, and I knew her game, I was like,

Okay, I can do this.

Honestly, I don't remember being down a set,

but I guess that was the beginning of the Serena comebacks.

When I go down a set, you have to forget it, it's like,

Okay, it's not over, you're still in it.

You have to fight for it, and stay present.

That was a really big turning point in my career

winning at my first Grand Slam.

I always said I was gonna win a Grand Slam.

I always wanted to win, and next thing I know,

I won, and I'd beaten the number one player in the world.

Hingis was dominating everyone at that time.

It was really intense, but I'm glad that I was able

to get that one, 'cause it kickstarted my career.

That was an awful match for me.

I was a teenager, and the crowd was booing me.

And, it was a white crowd, in the middle of a city

where it was predominantly Caucasians.

And, that was very difficult for me,

especially with being black and having my history.

From the first warmup, when the warmups started,

no, actually, when I walked out on the court,

the booing started.

So, that was a really difficult time for me

to try to get through that match.

When I did, it was like,

Who would wanna go back to a place

where they were not wanted?

And, I was okay with that.

Everyone can have their opinion, but I just felt like

I needed to take a long break from them.

I finally went back, I wanna say, in 2014.

There was just a new generation of people.

It was nice to go back and see kids that never saw me play.

I thought it was, first of all,

incredible that my career was able to last so long,

and it was even more powerful

and impacting that I could go back.

Winning my first Serena Slam,

I was really nervous for that final in Australia.

I think it was three sets and I may have lost the first set,

and I remember on match point, I think she hit a ball out,

and I was like, Finally,

and I was like, Wow, I did it.

But, it was really cool.

No one had done that since Steffi Graf in the 80s,

and so, here I was, 2003, completing winning four in a row,

which is incredibly hard to do.

I definitely think the reason why I became a stronger player

because people upped their game to beat me.

I also had to go and up my game, and try to win better,

and do better, and be better.

Every time I hit a benchmark, I check it off,

and I just go into the next one.