Serena Williams is poised to make history this week: if she wins this week's U.S. Open, it will mark the first calendar year Grand Slam -- a victory in all four of the world's biggest tournaments -- since 1988 and only the fifth in the sport's history.
With this quest in mind, a powerful new ad from Gatorade takes a nostalgic look back at Williams' prolific 20-year career, tracing her ascendancy from a little girl swatting balls in the public courts of her hometown Compton, California to one of the most dominant athletes of the world in any sport.
The ad starts with a question posed by a TV interviewer to Williams as a smiling young tennis prodigy: "If you were a tennis player, who would you want to be like?"
After a minute-long montage of some of the emotional highs and lows on the court through the years, we get an answer: "Well I like other people to be like me."
Twenty-three years later, the 11-year-old's challenge rings truer than ever. With 21 championships under her belt and a possible 22nd in the works, much speculation has centered on whether Williams could be the greatest to ever play the sport.
Williams' current streak has also done wonders for TV ratings during each of her big tournaments, and a range of new advertisers have flocked to her success, according to Ad Age.