It was her first match in over a year, and her first win in singles since August 2023. Prior to this tournament, she was listed as “inactive” by the WTA Tour.

Williams, obviously, had earned the right to be there. But the magic of that moment happened, in part, because someone respected her hard work and dedication and gave her a shot.

“Mark Ein, thank you for the wildcard,” Williams said of the tournament chairman and longstanding Williams superfan who enabled her to bypass the qualifying rounds.. “He always says ‘Hey V, I’m holding a wildcard for you.’ So, finally, I took him up on his offer. Thank you for having me.”

That opportunity is something we all need, and we should pay it forward to others when we can.

I had my own experience benefitting from an opportunity granted at the same tournament more than 25 years ago. I started the week working as a ballboy and finished it with a press credential.

On a lark, I managed to get an article I wrote about the tournament published – my first byline – in the student newspaper, The Diamondback. I’m forever grateful to the editor, Lori Van Lonkhuyzen (now Forcey), for publishing it and then to the tournament’s media director, Kerry Lynn Bohen. 

She looked at the newspaper that I had the nerve to hand her as a rising sophomore at the University of Maryland. Handing it to her was one thing. Waiting for her answer was quite another. To my surprise she handed me a press credential on the spot. In retrospect, I don’t know who was more surprised. 

The confidence that exchange gave me, and the wind it put into my sails as I started writing for The Diamondback in earnest a few weeks later, was critical.

That wind carried me to places, conversations, and moments I’ll never forget, including covering an electric final at the Lipton International in Florida where Venus beat her kid sister Serena  a few months before the younger Williams went on to win her first of 23 Grand Slam singles titles. .

I think about that credentialing moment often, including recently when I came across a phrase “delusional perseverance” in my friend and former colleague Vincent Wanga’s great new book, The Art of Direction: Personal Perspectives on the Path to Creative Leadership.

The phrase crystallized a concept I had internalized for years before finally being able to articulate it. Getting that credential might be my favorite example.

No one gets anywhere of note without others deciding to give them a chance in the face of the “logical” reasons not to do so. 

Remembering that 1999 Venus and Serena match, in the Miami area, and their transcendent impact, also reminded me of a later conversation I had on a podcast with Suzi Medina, a former colleague and then the VP, Spanish Content Development & Operations, at Major League Baseball.

We talked about the impact of Kim Ng becoming MLB’s first female general manager and the importance of seeing women in roles of power.

“That news rippled through the social platforms of every young woman interested in sports. Not just every woman interested in sports, just every young woman, because you could apply the significance of this news to any industry,” Medina said. “I took notice of the reaction of young women saying ‘I have a shot. This makes me feel like my dream is possible.’ … It kind of re-energized them [to think] ‘Okay, my dream isn’t crazy. And because I’m a woman, it shouldn’t stop me.”