“It shook the world… A Black girl wins a Slam at 17” – Serena Williams opens up about dealing with having an ‘X’ on her back during early career

Serena Williams has said that winning her maiden Grand Slam as a 17-year-old drastically changed tennis’ perception of her. Williams achieved the feat at the 1999 US Open, and she would go on to win 22 more women’s singles titles at Majors, before bidding farewell to the sport 23 years later at the same tournament.

In 1999, Williams began her US Open campaign with a straightforward win over compatriot Kimberly Po-Messerli. Another win followed in the second round, this time over Jelena Kostanic Tosic, but it was far less convincing as Williams struggled with her first serve.Williams’ third-round encounter against Kim Clijsters turned out to be a thriller, as the latter looked favorite to win when the third set was 5-3 in her favor. However, the American mounted a stunning comeback and ultimately progressed. Three similarly tight matches followed against Conchita Martinez, Monica Seles, and defending champion Lindsay Davenport, and Williams had the answers when it mattered most in all of them.

In the final, Williams overcame 1997 champion and 1998 finalist Martina Hingis 6-3, 7-6(4), making the former the Open Era’s first African American woman to win a singles Grand Slam title. Unsurprisingly, the discussion surrounding Williams grew, but not all of it, according to her, was positive.In a recent interview with “The New York Times”, the former World No. 1 said that she felt like she became a target following her title-winning 1999 US Open run. Williams also laid bare that people often assumed at the time that she was not friendly.

“That’s the way a lot of people would want it. I’m sure a lot of people never want to see an all-Williams final. It’s going to happen in the future inevitably. Nobody’s going to be able to stop it. Unfortunately, I didn’t pull my end up this year,” Williams said.
The sisters contested nine women’s singles finals at Major, with Williams defeating Venus on seven of those occasions. Their final meeting at the last hurdle of a Grand Slam came at the 2017 Australian Open, where a pregnant Williams triumphed