First of all, I envy you because I love
that you are so good at tennis.
I would love to be that good.
That must be so fun, to be so good at something like that.
It is.
It's really exciting.
I'm so blessed that God gave me this talent
to be good at tennis, and US Open was just
such a great experience for me.
But before we start anything, I wanted
to tell you that they actually told me
that I was going to be on Ellen DeGeneres
after I lost that night, and it made my loss so much better.
Oh, thank you.
I was so excited.
Thank you so much.
[APPLAUSE]
That was a coincidence, because I came in here and I said,
are you watching the US Open?
I asked everybody here, and I said,
have you seen this girl Melanie?
Because she's amazing.
And I was loving watching you.
And I went out to you before I knew if you
were going to win or lose.
I didn't care if you won or loss.
I just love your spirit.
And I watched you beat--
I guess Sharapova, right?
Yes.
That was amazing.
Thank you.
That was an amazing--
that was a great match.
[APPLAUSE]
What is her rank?
What is Sharapova?
Right now she's like 29 in the world.
But she was former number one.
She won the US Open in 2006, so she's a very, very good player.
That was incredible that you beat her.
Thank you.
What did that feel like?
It was amazing.
I had every single emotion possible
and every single thought going through my mind.
And I cried after because I gave it everything I had,
and I fought so hard.
And to actually beat Maria Sharapova on Arthur Ashe
Stadium at the US Open--
my only second time playing-- was just the most amazing
feeling ever.
I think everyone loves an underdog.
And they love that you were playing that good
and coming along going, who's this girl, all of a sudden
sneaking up on everybody?
Exactly.
And so speaking of that what do you
think about the Serena thing, when they got her
for that foot fault?
Yes, I think that, since I'm a player,
too, I can see that people can lose
their emotions in the court, and you get so into the match,
just anything can happen.
I heard she did apologize, so I'm
very happy that she did that because that
was the right thing to do.
Does anyone really pay attention to the foot fault thing?
Not usually.
It just depends what kind of linesmen you get on there.
Some of them aren't really paying attention,
and some of them are.
Yeah, lucky her.
She got somebody paying attention.
She did.
That was not the time to pay attention.
That really screwed her up bad.
Yes, it did.
And that's got to be hard to keep your cool, then,
because-- of course you're upset.
That was a tough thing.
Yes, yes.
And you started playing-- how old were you?
Seven.
Seven-- and you knew you wanted to do this?
Yes.
When I was nine, I actually watched Wimbledon.
I watched the Williams sisters playing,
and I told my mom that I wanted--
[LAUGHS]
The racquet's almost as big as you are there.
[LAUGHS]
That's your first trophy?
I think so, yes.
So you were watching at nine and you were
watching Wimbledon and what?
Williams sisters play tennis.
And I told my mom-- she's sitting next to me.
And I was like, mom--
I'm going to be there one day.
I want to be there one day.
And she was like, all right, honey,
you can have that-- she'll support me and all this stuff.
But I was nine, so, of course, your mom
says, all right, that's fine.
You can go for whatever you want.
You can dream whatever.
Not mine.
Anyway.
[LAUGHTER]
But don't you have a twin sister?
Yes, I do.
Does she play also?
She does.
Do want to be the Williams sisters?
Didn't you say, come on, let's do this together?
No, my sister never wanted to do that.
She supported my decision, wanting to go pro.
And she's plays one for her high school team,
and she's really good player and wants
to get college scholarship.
Wow, that's really exciting.
Obviously, you have the talent.
But do you think it's that vision that you had early
on that got you to this point?
I really do think so.
Everything I put my mind to, I've--
so far, I've made my goals.
And that's what I'm just going to keep
doing throughout everything.
Tell us about this.
So Adidas actually asked me to make a pair of my own shoes
for the US Open.
And I was going to design them however I wanted,
just the colors.
And they said I could put my name on the side.
But I was like, no, I want to put
like a word that describes me and describes
how I want to play the US Open.
So I was talking to my boyfriend about it.
And he was like, what about, believe?
And I was like, that's great because that's
what I need to do the US Open is believe in myself, how
I want to do there.
So I put, believe, on the side, and they really
got me through so, well and they were
the talk of the tournament.
[CHEERING]
Are these my size?
I'll take them.
I love these.
These are great.
By the way, you're 17.
You're about to turn 18.
Your boyfriend is 15?
Is that right?
[LAUGHTER]
So I want to give you a gift.
You're turning 18 soon.
And so I have an Ellen tennis outfit for you here.
[CHEERING]
And--
Laugh, dance, believe.
Aw!
Thank you!
You're welcome.
All right, we're going to play tennis a little later
in the show, right?
Yes, we are.
You and I.
Yep, I'm ready for you.
You better be.
Don't hold back.
I want you to really, really serve the way you serve,
and I'm going to try to return it.
How fast are your serves?
Usually 103 is my fastest.
103?
104, yeah.
OK.
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
[CHEERING]
103 or 104?
It varies?
It varies.
It varies between 103 and 104?
Between 90 and 104.
Yeah.
OK, try to do the 103 instead of the 104.
[LAUGHTER]
All right, you're going to get in there.
Yeah, right there.
I'm going to back up.
OK.
[CHEERING]
Now I see what you're doing.
Out!
[LAUGHTER]
And a foot fault, too.
I think that was out, too.
[CHEERING]
Oh, man.
They really come fast at you.
All right, maybe do one that's--
you actually want me to return it.
[CHEERING]
Come on!
That was a good one.
Come on!
OK.
OK, now-- now you're getting mad because it went faster.
I see.
You're very competitive, aren't you?
[LAUGHTER]
Hold on one second.
Let me get my racquet.
[CHEERING]