In the spirit of the US Open… a #TBT with Venus Williams

Watching Venus Williams on the court with her sister Serena at the US Open took me back to a day I will never forget.

I was featuring Venus and her tennis clothing line in one of my “Hot in the Hamptons” segments, and as part of that segment, she was going to play tennis with me. I was so nervous! I hadn’t played tennis since junior high. So my boyfriend (now husband) practiced with me for days so that I wouldn’t make a total fool out of myself.

When I arrived, Venus’ PR team had an outfit picked out for me to wear from her line. It was a tiny skirt and crop top. Um, no can do for TV- or life in general. They only had one dress there (because there were only samples made from her new line), and it was the one Venus was scheduled to wear to play on national TV the next day. Since I’d only be wearing it to tape the segment, they agreed, and I promised to take it right off so that they could pack it right up and ship it out.

With knots in my stomach, and a dress that was way too long, I began walking across the great Hamptons lawn to the tennis court. And that’s when the sky mysteriously opened up and it was a full downpour. I was soaked. The dress was soaked.

We ended up having to wait for the rain to stop and the courts to dry out, so in turn, I got to spend a good hour just hanging out with Venus. She couldn’t be nicer. We talked fashion, travel, beauty tips and a lot about nails!

Finally, it was time to play. She was a great sport. I did make a fool out of myself, but it didn’t matter. She made it fun! We laughed at my/her dress, she dubbed us “Twinsies”.

Then it was time to return the dress. I forgot to mention I had a spray tan. And now I had a spray tan (from the rain) all inside of the dress. Once again I had knots in my stomach. Did I ruin Venus’ outfit she needed to wear the next day? The handlers grabbed it from my hands… and I couldn’t sleep that night. I waited by the TV for Venus’ match. Out she came in the dress, ahhh relief, and went on to kick butt. And I will be a Venus fan forever after!