01x05 - The Perfect Storm

[bunniefuu]

[wind blowing]

[Serena] No matter

how strong you are

and no matter

how good you're playing,

even if you're dominating,

there's always a weakness.

The day you don't see a weakness

is the day you stumble.

So whether it was my serve

or my return

or definitely my volley,

there's always room

for improvement.

-[thunder rumbles]

-For me, I always tried to keep

a humble attitude in tennis

and understand that on any day,

it could change.

So, you don't wanna lose focus

against anyone.

That's when you lose your footing,

and then you become

super vulnerable

because you are almost too haughty.

[thunder crashing]

I put a lot of pressure on myself.

Anything less than a win

was a catastrophic failure.

[thunder continues crashing]

I convinced myself that

that's what the world expected,

was for me to win.

-[thunder continues crashing]

-And I expected the same thing.

[thunder continues crashing]

-[thunder rumbles

-[rain falling]

A health scare for the former

top women's tennis player in the world.

She's on a grandmotherly age

of 30 years old

in women's tennis.

She's looking at

her own mortality in tennis.

[reporter] It has been almost

one full calendar year

since she played an official match.

[commentator 1]

I think it's a harder game

to play now for her.

I don't think she can do it.

[commentator 2]

Serena Williams, her first match

of the tournament taking on

Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano.

Razzano comes in

ranked 111 in the world.

[Serena] I hated

playing first round matches

'cause I think my hardest match

in every Grand Slam

that I've ever played

is always mentally

the first round for me.

'Cause I never lost

in the first round.

[commentator] 46-0 in Grand Slam

first round matches,

Serena Williams.

[Serena] Not only do I have

the pressure

that I've put on myself,

I have to play with the pressure of,

"Oh, Serena, what is she doing today?

What is she gonna wear?

What is she gonna

How is she gonna play?

She's gonna win.

What is the score?"

Like, it's a lot of pressure,

and I do love the pressure.

I love that because I'd rather

have it that way than not.

But it does take its toll,

and it does get heavy.

[grunts]

And so you have to figure out

a way to make it light,

and usually I do.

I just hadn't made it light

in that particular tournament.

[commentator]

Razzano gaining momentum,

and it's all going her way

right now.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[Serena] I put so much pressure

on myself

to win another French Open

[umpire shouts indistinctly]

[Serena] because I'd only won

one French Open,

and I felt like this was

the year I could do it.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[commentator] I think

everybody is just waiting

for Serena to somehow

flip the switch

and buckle in,

and it's not happening.

[Serena] It's okay

to be hard on yourself,

but I was too hard on myself.

Everything was going wrong.

I was complaining about everything.

If I missed a shot,

it was the end of the world.

I needed to just take a beat

and say "It's not the end of the world.

You have the next point."

-[crowd cheering]

-But that's just excuses.

[commentator] Questions the call.

[Serena] I should have played better,

and I lost.

[commentator] A shocker

at the French Open!

For the first time in her career,

Serena Williams loses

in the first round

at a Grand Slam.

[Serena] I was so upset that I lost.

[reporter] She's getting on in years.

She knows her time is limited.

She had worked hard

to get back in shape

to win majors again.

It really looked

as though the table was set,

but, boy, this defeat

has really gotta sting.

[announcer] Serena Williams.

[reporter] Similar to Roger Federer,

we're just not used to seeing them

not win Grand Slams.

And for Roger Federer,

it's been two and a half years.

For Serena, it's been two years

since this tournament.

[commentator] And there he is.

For the first time, Novak Djokovic

I think with anybody who played

your sport, you have a bond.

but even more so

with somebody like Serena.

We go way back.

Played on the same courts.

We won the same tournaments.

You felt the same amount of pressure.

It's 15 years seeing each other,

waiting for each other,

for me to finish my match,

so she could play hers

or vice versa.

So, I mean, I've spent

hours and hours

watching Serena play, of course,

and admiring

what she's done as well.

[Serena] My career was weirdly parallel

with Roger Federer.

He and I, we're the same age,

and I always looked up

to Roger in a way.

He always knew how to handle

every single situation,

and he always knew how to win.

I would study his game,

and I would say,

"How do I hit the ball early?

How do I move like that?

How do I have that footwork

like Roger Federer?"

Like, I wanna study him

because he is the best.

And there's

a million questions

that I would have for Serena,

and she would have for me.

How did you deal with that loss

or with that injury?

When you are at the top,

and especially at the top

for so long,

and then you don't win

one or two Slams,

people are, like,

"What's going on?" You know?

And that now

you're over 30 anyway.

Like, how much longer

can you play?

You've achieved everything,

you're done,

and when are you gonna retire?

[Serena] I was so afraid

to reach 30.

-[clock ticking]

-I was, like, oh, my goodness.

My career is gonna be over.

Because I never thought

I would play past 30.

I think this was a time

in particular

where people had totally

counted myself out

and counted Roger out

and thinking that

we're both 30 or turning 30,

and that was the end of our careers,

and that was that.

But I just felt like

we both had more to give,

and I really felt

this weird unspoken connection

to Roger that I can't explain.

I always felt if Roger

could do it, I could do it.

[Federer] Every player needs

to adjust as they get older

because the passion

becomes different.

You adjust your training sessions

with who you train,

where you train, what time you train,

which tournaments to play,

because you realize now

that you've been on tour

for let's say 10, 15 years,

but everything changes.

[Serena] I asked

a good friend of mine on tour,

"Is there a place I can train?"

At the time,

French Open and Wimbledon

were two weeks apart.

After losing,

I didn't wanna leave Paris.

I should have still been

in the tournament in my mind.

I'm not gonna just sit here

[chuckles] and watch other people win.

I need to be training

for Wimbledon.

I don't want a lot of people.

I just need to be

in a quiet place

where I can just go away

and just train.

And so he recommended,

at the time,

his coach's facility.

I guess the guy

who owned the academy,

his name was Patrick.

My name is Patrick Mouratoglou.

I'm a professional tennis coach,

and I also own a tennis academy

that I started in 1996.

Since I'm a kid,

my dream was to be

a tennis champion,

and I couldn't do it for many reasons.

When I started coaching,

everybody started to laugh,

and they told me, "But you don't know

anything about coaching.

You never gave a tennis lesson

in your life," and I was 33.

And I said to them,

"You are right. That's true.

But I learn fast."

I don't know why,

but I knew I would coach Serena.

It was 10 years before.

She was maybe

She was 20 years old.

I was watching her play,

and I was thinking for sure

I'm gonna coach her. For sure.

But to be able to do it,

I have to be the best.

I envisioned the way it will happen,

and I saw her step in my academy.

I saw us talking. I really saw it.

So, that's incredible

because it happened.

[Serena] It was 30 minutes

outside Paris.

I was, like, okay.

It's a little far, but I'll go.

So, I texted him, and I was

like, "Can I hit at the court?"

And he was, like, "Sure."

Of course, I didn't know

anything about Patrick.

And he was super excited

that I came to the academy.

He gave me someone to hit with.

And she started to play,

and she hit the ball

for 45 minutes in a row

without stopping.

Then she stopped

and she said, "Talk to me."

So, I said, "Listen,

I know, you know, you're

I know my dad is

obviously my coach,

but if you want, if you have

anything you wanna say,

like if you see something

that you think I can do better,

feel free to tell me."

'Cause I love hearing

I don't wanna hear anything

I'm doing good.

I just wanna hear what I'm doing bad

so I can improve it.

I said to her that

I watched a match, and now

I'm watching her practice,

and I see the same mistakes.

And I see the reason why

she's missing,

and I explained to her.

So, she listened.

She's a very good listener.

Unbelievable listener.

And then she said,

"Okay. Can we work on it?"

I said, "Sure."

And I know

I have one shot with Serena.

She's not gonna ask me two times

what I think about her game.

I knew exactly what to say.

[Serena] I wasn't looking

for a coach.

I was happy in my situation.

But the feedback he gave me

was very similar

to what my dad would say,

and I

Not many people coach like my dad.

I think my dad is a great coach,

and he's the most underrated coach.

And I was, like,

"You're speaking my language.

We should continue

to, like, kind of

speak my language for the next

10 days while I'm here,"

and that's what we did.

She said, "Incredible.

It sounds like my father."

Of course it did.

I knew what I was doing.

I knew everything about her,

everything.

Believe me, I read the book,

I read thousands of articles.

I've watched

hundreds of matches,

and I think I see through people

more than anyone.

So, I knew her.

She didn't know me,

but I knew her.

I ended up asking him if

he wanted to come to Wimbledon.

[reporter] A very good morning

and a very warm welcome.

It is Wimbledon 2012.

[Mouratoglou] Serena loves

to intimidate people.

She loves it.

And she was trying

to intimidate me that day.

It was the first day of practice

in Wimbledon.

I'm waiting on the court

for the practice.

She enters the court.

I say, "Good morning,"

and she passes like this.

Zero emotion on her face.

She doesn't even look at me.

She passes here.

If I let her do that first day,

I'm done, and I know it.

She has a cap,

and I hit the cap really hard.

Not her head,

but just this part of the cap,

I hit it, and so hard

that the cap goes like this

on her face, and she's shocked.

I'm sure that nobody ever

did this to Serena, no one,

and especially not a guy

who knows her for a few days.

I tell her,

"This is not gonna work like that

because I have a few rules

that you'll have to respect.

Number one, when you enter

the court in the morning,

you look at me,

and you say, 'Good morning.'

Rule number two,

when I speak to you,

you stop, you look at me,

and you listen to me,

and you answer me."

And she said [chuckles]

and she said,

"And rule number three?"

And I forgot

the rule number three,

so I looked like sh*t,

so I said [chuckles]

"Rule number three,

I don't remember.

Maybe we'll come back."

[laughs]

And she told me afterwards,

she said, "When you did that,

that was different from anyone else."

It was always good for me

to get a new perspective,

because at the time,

it was just my dad.

[Mouratoglou] She never had

a coach before me,

only her father all her life

from the first day she

She took a tennis racket until that day,

and she was 30 years old.

I liked how Patrick coached.

Like, he wasn't

the kind of coach that was

always, like, as you hit a ball,

they're saying something.

I'm, like,

I've always liked someone

that was very calm and just

say what you need to say

and let me fix it.

[reporter] I thought, honestly,

she was a shoo-in

at Roland-Garros,

and then that match

against Virginie Razzano.

[Serena] Going into Wimbledon,

I just hope I don't make a fool

of myself at this point.

'Cause I just lost

in the first round

of the French Open,

and here I just wanna do well.

-[squeals]

-[crowd gasps]

[commentator] Thirty years of age now

world-ranking at six,

but, of course,

number one in the world

10 years ago now.

[crowd cheering]

[Mouratoglou] She was playing

really poorly.

Her level was so low

-[yells]

-[crowd gasps]

[Mouratoglou]

because she was so nervous.

But she was winning.

She was finding a way.

[Serena] Come on!

[Mouratoglou] But I knew that

if she would continue to play like this,

she would have no chance.

Because round of 16,

she was playing a very good player,

much better than all the others

she played before.

So, she had to show up.

[Serena] Patrick had

a good conversation with me,

and it was the first time

that he was very, like, hard.

And he said, "I need Serena

I haven't seen

Serena Williams yet.

I have not seen her.

I've heard about her.

I've seen her sometimes on TV.

I have personally never seen her.

I need her to show up today,

or you're not gonna win."

[Mouratoglou] I knew that

if I would provoke her,

we had a chance for her

to be able to show more of her.

And that's why I told her,

"We need Serena to show up today.

Otherwise, we go back home."

I said, "I'm gonna show you

Serena." [laughs]

[thunder booms]

[thunder crashes]

[Serena] And I showed him

and everybody else Serena

from the quarterfinals on.

[grunts]

[commentator] Serena is still

hunting Wimbledon titles.

[Serena] I remember thinking,

you know,

if you wanna be the best,

you have to watch the best.

[commentator] Semifinals day,

Federer vs. Djokovic.

[Serena] So, I would watch Roger,

and you're learning, like,

what are they doing?

'Cause how can I get better?

How do I move faster like these guys?

What are they doing

that I'm not doing?

And it's always good

to have friends

that can motivate you.

[Federer] At one point,

I felt like I was alone at the top.

Then there was Novak and Rafa

really coming into their own.

And I think that challenged me

to second-guess my playing style,

my work ethic,

how I should play the game.

Serena went through

exactly the same thing.

[crowd cheering]

[Serena] I remember I was, like,

okay, Roger's still in it.

I'm still in it.

Let's do this. Let's see what

Let's see what's gonna happen.

[reporter] Inside center court

for a competitive final.

[Serena] I had some hard matches

at Wimbledon that year.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

But I tell you, what I relied on

that Wimbledon was my serve.

For me, the perfect serve

is serving to the Ad-Out side.

[commentator] Beautiful serve.

[Serena] Obviously, it'll be an ace.

Then I serve up the T.

Just when you thought you had it,

it would curl away from you.

It would, like, turn.

And it's something that I worked on

a lot in my career

to get that last, like, hook.

[commentator 1] Best women's serve ever.

[commentator 2] Without a doubt.

She probably didn't even see it

That's how fast it was.

[Serena] You need the right toss.

You need to have the right knee bend.

Keep your head up

and pronate your wrist

and make sure you hit the ball

at the right point.

I never once thought of any of that.

Kind of just relax,

don't think about it, and just do.

[Federer] When I think of Serena,

right away the first thing

I think about

is perfect serve motion.

The ball toss is perfect.

The high elbow.

She's got the power,

she's got the kick.

Consistency.

[commentator 1] Wow.

[commentator 2] That was great.

[Federer] I don't know how much better

you can have a serve motion.

[commentator 1] And Serena

puts the pressure right on her.

Four for four.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

That's what allowed her

to wake up at 3:00 in the morning,

"Um, Serena, can you please

quickly hit an ace?"

"Yes, absolutely."

Bang, here it goes.

"Can I go back to sleep?"

That's kind of how it felt to me.

[commentator] Serena

is the Wimbledon champion.

[Mouratoglou]

When she won Wimbledon,

it was her 14th Grand Slam.

I felt like it was her first.

You have no idea

about the emotion she had

when she won that Grand Slam.

I mean, every time

she won a Grand Slam,

she had crazy emotion,

but this one

I think was probably

the most emotional.

Because she didn't win

a Grand Slam for two years.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

I've been asked,

"What did you feel?"

Because for me, it was

the first Grand Slam as a coach.

And I said, "Nothing.

I felt her emotion.

I felt the joy that she was feeling.

I was so much in her,

I felt what she felt.

I couldn't feel for myself.

[Serena] I was so happy.

I remember just saying over and over,

"I won Wimbledon."

Like, I couldn't believe it.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

I do remember my mom saying,

"When you get to be 30,

this is when you'll be

your strongest ever."

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[commentator] Championship number seven

for Roger Federer,

the greatest of all time?

[Federer] We were able

to prove ourselves

and take the game again

to another level at now over 30,

to still show that we can still do it

and still hopefully do it

for a long time.

[Serena] The comeback

and win Wimbledon, it was a rebirth.

I needed to redo.

I needed to, like,

shed all my old skin,

and I needed to just put on new skin.

There needed to be a new Serena.

[commentator 1] The questions will begin

immediately for Serena.

"How many more can you win?"

Fourteen is great.

[commentator 2] Champions are greedy.

And so that created

a whole new animal.

[roaring]

[reporter] The winner

of this tournament,

of this match, will be the only player

to have won two Grand Slams

this year.

[yells]

[crowd cheering]

[yells indistinctly]

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[Mouratoglou] Confidence is something

that you build.

[roars]

[crowd cheering and applauding]

The only right way to think,

and that's my job,

is how, day after day,

you build confidence.

Come on!

[Mouratoglou]

So, I have to keep pushing her,

-and she again pushing me.

-[grunting]

[Mouratoglou] And when you have

this special chemistry

-[yelling]

-[Mouratoglou] it makes wonders.

-[roaring]

-[Serena] It was really

just about me focusing

on the smaller details.

He can bring things that

can make me more consistent.

It wasn't like he was

trying to change my game.

He was just trying to add to it.

It's definitely Serena 3.0.

Come on!

This is another version.

I'm actually playing better

than I have ever played,

-and I'm just winning.

-[crowd cheering and applauding]

And it was nice to just be able

to consistently show up.

[horn blows]

[reporter] And we are ready

for the women's championship

of the U.S. Open.

[Serena] By the time I made it

to the 2014 U.S. Open,

I was on top of the world.

[Mouratoglou] Fifteen minutes

before the match starts,

I turned to her, and she's like this.

[imitates snoring] She's sleeping.

And I can't believe that she's sleeping

fifteen minutes before entering

a Grand Slam final.

So, I wake her up and I say,

"You're not sleeping, are you?"

"Oh, yeah."

And I've never seen this in my life.

Players, before entering the court,

they are so stressed,

all of them without any exception.

It's impossible to sleep.

She was so calm this day

that she fell asleep.

It's crazy.

[Federer] She was always very relaxed,

and I always thought

that was so interesting

how we all played so different,

and I could not play like that.

[Mouratoglou] With Serena,

in December every year,

we had a long talk

about the goals for the season.

And my job is to find a way

for the player

to enter the courts

with the right intentions

and to take the fears away

as much as possible

so that the player can

express fully his potential.

But of course, for her, the goal

is to win all the tournaments.

[Serena] My goal in 2015

was to win a Calendar Grand Slam.

[Mouratoglou] A Calendar Slam

means winning

the four Grand Slams the same year

from January to September.

A Calendar Slam

is probably the most difficult thing

to do in tennis.

You cannot be at the top

four times in a season.

I mean, that's why

it doesn't happen.

[reporter] Steffi Graf,

the 19-year-old West German,

stepped into the sports

history books this week.

She became only the fifth person

to ever win the Grand Slam of tennis.

[Mouratoglou] But geniuses

can do it sometimes.

Very rarely.

-CREW: Camera roll.

-B206.

Take two. Go, sticks.

[Serena] Going into 2015,

I just came off

of winning the U.S. Open,

and I felt like

no one could beat me.

[Mouratoglou] Just winning

a Grand Slam is so difficult.

Not only you have to win

seven matches

during two weeks, but it's a journey.

It's two weeks.

Anything can happen during

those two weeks. Anything.

An injury. Being sick.

Uh, losing confidence after a match.

Playing the player you hate to play

that plays her best that day.

Anything can happen.

MAN: Go, Maria!

[Mouratoglou] And getting sick

during a tournament,

these things that happen,

and actually it happened

to Serena a few times.

[reporter] Oh, no. It now appears

Serena is having

all sorts of problems.

She has gone into the tunnel

with an apparent coughing fit.

[Serena] I remember running,

throwing up,

and coming right back.

And I'm gonna tell you,

it only took a couple minutes,

two, three minutes, you know.

I don't take a lot of time

when I jump off a court.

[reporter] Serena is back on court now.

[Serena] I don't know what happened.

Maybe I ate something bad

before the match.

[reporter] Head coach

Patrick Mouratoglou

has a look of concern as well.

2015 Australian Open, she's sick and

sick, not sick, injured, not injured.

Any problem, she will deal with.

[umpire] Game, Williams.

[commentator] She doesn't appear

to be in great shape.

[Serena] You don't wanna be sick

in a Grand Slam.

It sucks.

It's rough.

[Federer] You had to go through

the same amount of practices

and figure it out.

You have to go through injuries

and mental downs

and fighting the demons,

and then fight your way

out of those holes.

[commentator] Championship point.

That's it.

[umpire] Game, set, match, Ms. Williams.

[commentator] Serena Williams

rules again.

Grand Slam title number 19.

[commentator 2] It's almost like

she turns on a switch

and gets to another level.

[Serena] Every year I win Australia,

everyone talks about a Calendar Slam.

[reporter] So, you've held

the Serena Slam,

but it wasn't a calendar year.

-Oh, my God.

-Come on. Come on.

I would love to get there,

but I have to get to 20 first.

I'm just happy with this title,

and I hope just to continue,

and that's it.

That's all I think about.

Let's just focus

on the next Grand Slam,

which was the French Open.

I started to feel sick

at the French Open

in the third round against Azarenka.

[grunting]

[Serena] Something was off.

I saw a step off,

a step slow, something.

[announcer speaks French]

[Serena] I ended up winning that match.

-[grunting]

-[crowd cheering and applauding]

[commentator] Serena Williams then wins

after two hours and three minutes.

[Serena] And then in the fourth round,

the round of 16,

I played Sloane Stephens,

and I was two steps off.

[commentator] She's not moving well.

She's a step or two too slow.

[commentator] That's in.

[umpire] Set and match,

Mademoiselle Williams.

[Serena] After that match,

and I got through it,

I just started to go downhill.

I just was starting to get sick,

and then I got really sick.

[coughs]

[reporter] All these long matches here,

can they get you battle-tested,

or are you worried

about running out of gas at this point?

I'm not worried

about running out of gas.

You know, I'm I'm 33.

I'm not gonna be playing

another 10 years,

so I better not run out of gas now.

I'm not gonna quit.

Why stop now?

I'm gonna keep going

as hard as I can until I'm out.

[yells]

-[crowd cheering and applauding]

-[thunder crashes]

[Serena] If that means I have

to go another nine sets,

then so be it.

But nothing's gonna make me

run out of gas.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[Federer] She was sick, you know,

but you don't wanna tell anyone

because you don't want the

[chuckles] the draw to know

that you're not feeling well.

[coughs] Excusez-moi. Uh, je

[Federer] And then yet still

you're explaining yourself

to the media, how,

"No, everything's great.

I'm struggling a little bit

today with rhythm and stuff,"

but actually [chuckles]

you're having loads of pain.

I'm just gonna go home

and relax and [coughs]

Excuse me. I'm so sorry.

try to pull myself together,

and I just have to play well.

It doesn't matter who I play.

They're gonna come out swinging,

and, you know,

I have to be ready for that.

We got to the semifinals.

I'm on the sidelines

just sitting like this basically.

[commentator] You shouldn't be

out there if you look like that

[man in stands]

Let's go, Serena. Let's go!

[Serena] I was, like, I gotta lose.

Like, I can't go on like this.

Somehow I won,

and my fever was so high

at this point

I went to the locker room,

and I just broke.

[Mouratoglou] After every match,

she would come back to the locker room,

lay down on the floor,

and cry for one hour

because she was just out of herself.

She was exhausted.

I was just bawling. I was like,

I didn't wanna win that match.

Like, I just wanna go home.

I can't believe

I'm, you know, winning.

I just didn't

I just literally needed to go home.

And I'm shaking.

I have such a fever.

I remember Marion Bartoli

was there,

and she helped me

take off, like, my dress

'cause I couldn't get undressed.

Someone had to come, like,

take off my tape.

I-I physically was in a position

where I could not move.

How can you win a Grand Slam like this?

I don't know how it's possible.

It's just impossible.

You can't take a whole lot of

the medications that all of us

would take normally

for a cold and a flu

-No.

-because they could show up

on the doping scan.

So, the players have to make do

with the old-fashioned methods,

and she's not getting over it

nearly as quickly

as she would have liked,

that's for sure.

'Cause this thing has dragged o

now for more than a week.

[Serena] I guess you have to have

an approval

to get some sort of

non-performance-enhancing drug,

just something to suppress my cold.

[Mouratoglou] She was like anyone

going to the pharmacy

and taking regular medicine for flu,

which do nothing.

Like, if you take nothing,

it's the same.

The approval process,

they're off on weekends.

[laughs] And so you're, like, wait.

This is a joke, right?

No, like,

"No, we're off on the weekends,

so you can get an approval

on Monday."

"Well, the French Open final

is on Saturday,

and we need the approval

today on Friday

because she's not getting better."

So, I was going to the doctor,

and I say, "Can you

Do you have something stronger?

Because she cannot play tennis."

She has

We have to get rid of this flu.

Her temperature has to go down.

Uh, but because of the doping, no.

[coughs]

[Serena] I remember practicing,

and I'm coughing so hard

that I can't even hit a ball.

I just start coughing so much

that I'm starting to cry

'cause I can't breathe.

And, you know,

I have my lung issues already,

Patrick comes over,

and he's like, "Let's go.

You're not gonna practice right now."

We didn't do one practice.

She could not practice.

We didn't do one warmup

before the matches.

She couldn't warm up.

She was in bed.

I remember being at her apartment.

I'm sitting on the bed.

I feel her fever from

I'm one meter away from her.

She's so hot that I feel it.

[Serena] And I'm thinking,

like, why am I here?

Like, I need to just pull out

at this point.

Like I I don't [sighs]

I didn't have it in me

to pull out at a Grand Slam

right now at this point in my career.

I just couldn't pull the plug.

Maybe I should've,

but I couldn't.

I'm not looking

at the beginning of my career.

I don't have another 10 years

to play, you know?

It was, like, every Grand Slam counts.

The next day, I woke up,

and I was, like,

I gotta toughen this out.

I'm in the finals

of the French Open.

Let me toughen this out.

[reporter] Today's win

would mean she is going

for 20 Grand Slam titles,

a milestone reached

only by two players in history.

[announcer] Serena Williams!

[commentator] Ms. Williams

trying to keep alive

the potential for a Calendar Slam.

[Serena] My body was aching.

I remember just being exhausted.

I would describe it as

the infamous flu game

with Jordan.

[buzzer sounds]

The only difference is

it's just me out there.

There is no teammate.

You're on the line

for every single point.

Somehow I won the first set.

[commentator] Williams' mindset today

is just get this over and done with.

I remember just being exhausted.

[grunting]

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[grunts]

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[commentator] Compounding

the pressure on Serena now.

[Mouratoglou] This is why

she's who she is.

[thunder rumbling]

When she sees herself losing

[thunder rumbles]

[yells]

then a rage is coming.

[thunder booms]

And this rage

she's using to play much better.

Come on! Come on!

[Serena] I remember being angry.

Not angry that she was playing good.

I was angry that

I hadn't closed out the match.

Come on!

-[yells]

-[crowd cheering and applauding]

And I was, like, okay, don't get mad.

Just play. [laughs]

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[Mouratoglou] And this rage

gave her the possibility

to start playing tennis,

even though she was

as sick as you can be.

[grunts]

-[umpire] Out!

-[crowd cheering and applauding]

[grunts]

-Come on!

-[crowd cheering and applauding]

[Serena] I can't quit

no matter how much

I want to sometimes,

no matter how much

I say I don't care.

[grunting]

I don't know if there's

something deeper in me

that just continues,

like, to move my body

without me moving it, you know.

Like an outer body experience.

I don't know.

Come on!

[commentator] Body language

has just risen through the roof

Is there another twist in the story?

All I know is, like,

I'm so glad that something

in me refused to give up.

I don't know what it was,

'cause I had given up. [chuckles]

But something in me

must have wanted to win.

[grunting]

And that's what I did.

[crowd cheering]

[announcer speaks indistinctly]

What she did in 2015 at

Roland-Garros, I'm gonna say it.

I think it's the greatest achievement

in sport ever.

[crowd cheering]

I've never seen something

like this in my life,

and I think it defines Serena.

When you see what she's capable of

during that tournament,

she makes things impossible

become possible.

That's why she's who she is.

[reporter] Aren't you tired?

I mean, how do you feel

right now physically,

let alone emotionally?

[Serena] I think I'm gonna faint

in 20 minutes.

I'm, like, trying to hold it up

but I don't think I'm doing so well.

So, um, but it's just

I don't know.

Twenty is pretty amazing to me.

Unfortunately, I'm thinking

about Wimbledon, so

-Already?

-I know, I know.

[reporter laughs] Already?

I know. It's bad, it's bad.

I know.

[Serena] After winning

the tournament, though,

all I could think about

was winning Wimbledon.

I didn't dream

in my wildest dreams

that I would have a chance

to do a second Serena Slam.

I had already done one,

and usually

you do one per career.

And here I am in my 30s,

and I had a good chance

of doing it again.

I had a lot of momentum

behind me.

[commentator] And finally, we begin

the ladies singles final of 2015.

[commentator] Take that.

We might just have a match here.

Oh, that was a match.

[grunts]

[commentator] Early signs

of nerves showing here.

Well, she played so good in that match.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[grunting]

[announcer] A little interference.

[Serena] That was a fun match.

In retrospect.

It was not fun during.

[grunts]

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[commentator] That was utter disdain.

When I used to see,

I mean, Serena play,

I saw an unbelievable,

fierce competitor.

On top of it, more power

than anybody in the game.

And when she was dialed in

and really wanted to be the best,

I mean, she was easily the best,

you know,

and I think that was just

so mighty impressive.

[commentator] And she's done it.

[umpire] Game, set, match.

[commentator] Once again,

the queen of center court.

[Serena] It was amazing

to win four in a row again.

It's awesome.

It's really awesome.

[reporter] The Calendar Slam's in sight,

to be continued in New York.

[Serena] I honestly

wouldn't have thought

last year after winning the U.S. Open

I would win the Serena Slam at all.

I mean, I've been trying

to win four in a row

for 12 years.

And having all four trophies at home

is incredible.

Anyone on tour

would take four in a row

and be happy with it.

There's one person that wouldn't,

and that would be me.

[reporter] When did you first think

about New York,

and what was the feeling there,

looking ahead?

-Um

-Or do you not, maybe?

-Oh, come on.

-[all laughing]

Yeah, I was feeling really good

so maybe a little bit after that,

I started thinking about New York.

[chuckles]

[reporter] The Calendar Slam's in sight,

to be continued in New York.

[Serena] I'd won four Grand Slams

in a row again,

and I was going for

my fifth Grand Slam in a row.

And there was so much pressure.

Everything was Serena.

[reporter] The countdown at Arthur Ashe

for what feels like a Super Bowl event.

[Serena] The U.S. Open poster.

It was a Serena poster for that year.

And everything was about Serena,

so it was a lot of pressure.

And I didn't take it as a privilege.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[reporter] Serena Williams

seven matches away

from the Calendar Slam,

which no one has achieved

since Steffi Graf

back in 1988.

[grunts]

[umpire] Game, set, match,

Serena Williams.

[reporter] The Grand Slam dream

is still alive,

but what a fight.

[reporter] Face a familiar

opponent now in the semifinal,

that's Roberta Vinci.

What are the challenges in that matchup?

You know, she has nothing to lose.

I don't either,

so we're just gonna go out

and have a lot of fun.

She is at the table

for the greatest of all time.

There's nobody can touch her now.

You give her no chance

to lose this match?

I have her no chance.

How about you?

-No chance.

-[laughs] Okay.

[reporter] Serena right now

is an absolute force of nature.

The only thing that can stop her

is if she trips over

all the garbage

on the streets of New York

and twists her ankle.

[reporter] Roberta Vinci,

the 43rd woman in the world

against the number one,

Serena Williams.

[Mouratoglou]

The pressure is really high.

She's supposed to play that day,

and she's ready to win.

And I-I know her.

She was ready to win

-[thunder rumbling]

-and it rains.

[reporter] Day 11

at the U.S. Open a washout.

Players getting the word

that the semifinals

for the women

would be played on Friday.

[Mouratoglou] At that time,

there was no roof,

and she plays the day after.

And I will remember all my life.

I'm waiting for her

at the stadium

to go warm up before the match,

before the semifinal.

She steps out of the car.

I look at her, and I think "f*ck."

Excuse us. Excuse us.

She's not like yesterday.

Something in her mind was wrong

that wasn't there the day before,

the day she was supposed to play.

[Serena] I became a little unsure

of myself.

I began to doubt myself.

And doubt is the worst thing

that you can have in tennis.

When doubt creeps in,

your game isn't as tight

as it needs to be.

Well, I think physically,

the extra day helps everyone.

I think psychologically,

it gives her a lot more time

to think about

what she's playing for,

so it could add

a little bit more stress,

if that's even possible.

[reporter] Maybe Roberta Vinci

can be the one to derail

Serena Williams and history.

[announcer] Serena Williams.

[Mouratoglou] She can still win.

But if the girl

on the other side of the court

plays the match of her life,

we're really in the sh*t.

[grunting]

You don't win Grand Slams

with your tennis.

The tennis is the consequence

of who you are,

how you think,

how you process,

the mindset you have

when you enter the court.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

You win Grand Slams

with your heart.

[umpire] Game.

[commentator] Well, look good

at that face right there

from Serena of angst

and disgust and tension.

[Serena] It's not a great feeling

when you're not able

to make the right shot.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[commentator] Tension's building.

[Serena] You can't show up

and be your best every day.

[grunts]

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[Mouratoglou] We should never forget

that players are humans,

humans who have doubts,

goals,

emotions,

and that plays a big part

in the success or not.

[commentator 1] And Vinci has taken

her level of play up a bit.

[commentator 2] She's maximizing

this opportunity,

this window

that's been given to her.

[commentator 1]

This is so much history

-in the sport at stake.

-[thunder rumbling]

[Serena] It was so overwhelming for me

because all the pressure

that I was starting to feel,

all the pressure

that I was putting on myself,

all the pressure that

I was feeling from just around,

I think started to add up.

[grunting]

[Mouratoglou] When you are

playing Grand Slams,

big matches, crazy emotions,

crazy stress, crazy pressure,

the only thing you can rely on

[Serena grunts]

is your confidence.

If it's not strong enough,

it's gonna be a meltdown.

[commentator] Serena giving her

absolute all

trying to chase that last one down.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[commentator] Vinci, "What about me?"

[cheering continues]

I can't imagine the pressure

she's feeling now.

[commentator 2] Well, it's evident

that Serena's playing

two opponents right now,

playing Roberta on the other side,

and she's playing herself.

[Serena] The semifinal sucked,

and I hated it,

That's one thing my therapist tells me

not to talk about

[laughs] for my sanity.

-[yells]

-[shoes squeak on court]

[crowd gasps and cheers]

[commentator] An extraordinary upset.

Italy's Roberta Vinci

ends Serena Williams' Grand Slam run.

[Serena] I didn't play well.

I won the second set.

I should have won the match.

I should have won the tournament,

and I'll forever regret that.

[commentator] And Serena departs.

[crowd cheers]

[Mouratoglou] This loss k*lled her.

She said to me,

"I feel that I worked

for that moment all my life,

and I screwed up everything."

Can you imagine?

After winning

four Grand Slams in a row

and losing in the semifinal

of the fifth,

she's saying,

"I screwed up everything."

That's unbelievable.

I say that because

it says everything

about how she processes.

[commentator]

She put so much hard work

into trying to pull this off.

It just shows you how difficult it is.

[Serena] It was a really difficult time.

I feel like I could have won,

um, and I didn't.

And honestly, I feel like

I could have done

lot of things better

in that tournament.

Not only in the tournament,

but also, just, like,

prep for the tournament

and, like

You know how

you feel like, gosh,

if I'd have trained here

or if I'd have done that,

or if it hadn't rained

three days in a row or

What would have happened?

Like, it was so many

So much of that happening.

It was a very difficult pill

for me to swallow

because ultimately, I got outplayed.

It was just a perfect storm

for me to lose.

But inside,

I just wanted to just go home

and just scream into a pillow

as loud as I could.

That's all I'm gonna say

about that.

[Mouratoglou] She didn't win

the Calendar Slam,

but being able to help her

achieve history is incredible.

[man in distance] Love you, Serena!

[Mouratoglou]

There is only one Serena.

In the history of our game,

there will never be another one.

But what she's achieved shows it.

But when you know her,

you see her drive,

the results she's made,

her legacy

it's just a confirmation

that she's completely exceptional.

[Federer] It humbles you

a little bit, you know,

when you're not winning

all the time.

She entered the tour

with a huge bang,

and, like, "Here I am.

And I'm gonna be dominant.

I'm gonna be great."

So, I think for her then to navigate

and have such a long career,

is something

I truly admire about her.

[Serena] It doesn't end the way

it does in the movies,

and no matter how much I feel like

it could and it should,

and no matter what

I could have done different,

it wasn't my story.

[crowd cheering]

Winning is so glamorous,

you know,

and everyone thinks

it's so amazing when you win.

It is. It really is,

but the more you win,

the harder it is to lose.

I don't think I was able to move on

from that U.S. Open loss.

[thunder rumbling]

I was just so angry

and just so sad

and just so disappointed

in myself,

said no one with 21,

at the time, Grand Slams.

But it wasn't enough for me.

[crowd cheering]

Winning can sometimes be ugly.

You could be sick.

You could feel like

you're on top of the world,

and then one bad match,

and it's just over.

It's all over.

It's humbling.

Sport is humbling.

Because no matter who you are,

at some point you're gonna lose,

and it keeps you very humble.

Winning is not guaranteed.

No matter what you do,

no matter how much work you do,

it's not always guaranteed,

and that's something

I just had to learn.