ITF

50 G igi: The first one was just the happiest moment of my life to that point. It was just really cool to do that for your country and not yourself. The only better moment than that was giving birth to my kids – they're six. And the second one was just relief because we were defending and we had a lot of pressure with the US and I was kind of relieved we won that one. Mary Joe: Definitely being part of the Olympics was a highlight – the biggest highlight in my career. To be a small part of such a huge event that you watched growing up, and you get the goosebumps when someone from the United States wins a medal. When you're there, you go out on opening ceremony day and you're just like in awe. Like you have to pinch yourself, is this really happening? Gigi: It was emotional. The second one, especially, because my whole family was there because it was in Atlanta. In Barcelona, we were in a foreign country, we were playing the Spaniards [Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario] in the finals, and we didn't have the crowd on our side, clearly. We were kind of more isolated, but in the first one, it was also the first time in my whole life I saw people stand on the podium and have the anthem sung for them; it was pretty special. It's something you dream about your whole life. Mary Joe: Our first one was in Spain, which for me was something special since my dad is from Spain. And it was amazing. There was such a great atmosphere and every match we played was packed. And then playing the Spanish team in front of the King and the Queen – they showed up halfway through the match and they stopped the play because everybody got up and it totally distracted us – we were winning and we lost the set. But we found a way to regroup and win and it was just so special. It was very emotional. You're on that podium and you're hearing your anthem and you're just so happy. The bronze [singles medal] was special because Jennifer [Capriati] won the gold, so it was so nice to have a teammate and to hear the anthem, again, be played. In Barcelona, you didn't have a play-off for the third place so I was really happy about that. In Atlanta, I lost to Lindsay [Davenport] in the semis and they had a play-off for the third place and I lost to [Jana] Novotna for the bronze medal, so that was disappointing. But to be able to repeat on our Olympic gold was huge. It was like, "Let me pinch myself again. Is this really happening again?" Gigi: I think what made it so special is that the whole world knows what the Olympics are. When I came home from winning the Olympics, and I lived in Aspen, Colorado at the time, everybody knew. Everybody stopped me in the streets and everybody congratulated me, so it was a very different feeling. It was like I did it for them instead of for myself. People who didn't know tennis, didn't play tennis, who were just walking on the street, and that's unusual. I could win six Grand Slams in a row and nobody would know. And one gold medal and everyone is congratulating me. Mary Joe: I won majors in doubles and the Olympics trumps that by far. But that's me. I'm sure different players have different feelings about it. I think it definitely, all of a sudden, adds to your credentials in a great way. They introduce you as an Olympic winner. So that's special and it stands out. Gigi: It's given me a lot of opportunities that I probably would not have had otherwise. It's just something that made my career more cool and more complete. When I do appearances I'm also an Olympic gold medallist. Everybody stopped me in the streets and everybody congratulated me, so it was a very different feeling.

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