By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, September 4, 2015
"Stepping up to the plate and just being brave enough to go for it, that moment really shaped my whole career," said Serena Williams.
Photo credit: US Open/USTA
NEW YORK—Martina Hingis knows all about the major challenge facing Serena Williams in a Grand Slam final
That's because the former world No. 1 was on the other side of the net in the 1999 US Open final when Serena hit the shot that shaped the course of her career.
Asked her most meaningful memory from her first career Grand Slam title, the top seed said her defining moment came in the tie break against Hingis.
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Williams, considered an underdog in that match by some, vividly recalls and exhorting herself to be bold, step in and take a rip at a return off Hingis' second serve knowing "it's now or never."
"I remember thinking—Martina had a second serve, and I'll just never forget it," Williams said. "I was like, Serena, you've got to go for it. It's either now or never. You've got to go for it. I went for it. I went for this huge forehand up the line. Something inside me told me if I don't do this then I'm not going to win this match."
A 17-year-old Serena defeated then world No. 1 Hingis, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to capture her first career Grand Slam championship at the 1999 U.S. Open.
"So just stepping up to the plate and just being brave enough to go for it, that moment really shaped my whole career," Williams said. "That's probably what I remember most."
Serena held a 7-6 career edge over the Swiss Miss in a rivalry that pitted Serena's power and explosiveness against Hingis' all-court artistry and shrewd point-construction skills. Sixteen years later, both the current and former world No. 1 players returned to New York as reigning Grand Slam champions.
Serena won Wimbledon to complete her second career Serena Slam, while Hingis swept the Wimbledon doubles and mixed doubles championships, adding to the Australian Open mixed doubles crown she won with Leander Paes in February.
Given their dramatically different styles of play why have both Serena and Martina been able to sustain their success and win Grand Slam titles into their 30s?
The 34-year-old Swiss believes the common connection they share goes back to childhood roots. Both Williams and Hingis spent countless hours on the practice court creating strong technique with a devotion to details.
"Serena obviously is a phenomenon on her own," Hingis told a few members of the media after her first-round doubles win with partner Sania Mirza. "I mean she and her serve is like already the weapon [in the game] and the mentality she has. How many people have done that in the past? Not many, right.
"For me, in my case having been off for three years before I came back in the singles and now seven years and still be able to play at this level [is great]. I think we have the foundation in our generation. We definitely spent hours and hours on the court that no one can take away from us. I think this shows at the end of the day that we had the skills and now we can come back to them and be able to produce this kind of tennis."
Hingis' creative court sense, flair for finesse and ability to create absurd angles were elements of the distinctive style that made her the youngest world No. 1 in tennis history. One of the few players to hold the singles and doubles top spot simultaneously, Hingis said both Williams sisters were her toughest rivals and called Venus her favorite rival.
"I liked playing Venus. I think it always brought out the best in both of us," Hingis said. "Serena is one of the only top rivals of my time that I don’t have a winning record against. We had some great matches. Lindsay (Davenport) is another one where I started off pretty well against her and then she started beating up on me—she’s four years older than me—(laughs) and then it got kind of even at the end.
"I would say the toughest rivals for me were players who had big serves and could hit winning shots off the first ball. Those were the type of players I can honestly say I really don’t like facing. You have to be 100 percent at all times to deal with those kind of players."