Rhiannon Potkey shared a photo on her Twitter account Friday night after Serena Williams‘ third-round US Open match that immediately went viral.
It was a film photo of a 9-year-old Williams holding the winner’s trophy. She’s in an all-white outfit with the biggest smile on her face. Standing next to her and the tournament director is Potkey, 10, with the runner’s up trophy. It was December 1990 in a Girls 10s Division juniors tournament in Orange County, California.
Potkey, now a sports journalist who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, was mad she had lost. It was a straight-set loss at that (she remembers winning a few games, but doesn’t remember the final score). But, she had made the finals in the tournament in Southern California, and her proud father stood on the sidelines snapping photos of his daughter. So, she smiled for the camera.
Potkey had photos with several players from the juniors tournaments which her parents developed periodically. But she saved this one. Why? Her coach asked her to.
“One day that girl will win a lot of Grand Slams,” her coach had said to her.
The coach could not have been more right. Nine years later, when Williams was 18, she won her first Grand Slam trophy at the 1999 US Open. The rest is history.
But, back to that 1990 tournament. It was Potkey’s first time playing Williams. Williams usually played in divisions way beyond her age, because she was that good, but that day she was playing in her own age group.
I was pretty disappointed after this loss. But my coach told me to save this photo because “one day that girl will win a lot of Grand Slams.”
I am glad I listened. Thank you #Serena for a lifetime of inspiration. 🐐 pic.twitter.com/uU1QSf8OQ9
— Rhiannon Potkey (@RPotkey) September 3, 2022
Potkey might not have faced Williams yet, but Serena and her sister, Venus, already had an enthralling presence in the Los Angeles tennis community. Potkey would look at her upcoming draws and pray that the Williams sisters (particularly Venus, who was the same age as Potkey) weren’t on her side of the draw.
“Please just give me a chance to make a few wins,” she would pray before every draw.
She never faced Venus, but played Serena twice, once after the loss to her in the finals of the tournament in question. She remembered losing the second meeting too in straight sets.
Serena would hit so hard, so fast, that Potkey didn’t think she had a shot. Potkey had a one-handed backhand slice and she served and volleyed a lot, but she…
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