>> announcer: this is "nightline." tonight, serena. the greatest of all time back at the u.s. open for her final grand slam. taking home a win in her first match. where it all started. changing the game. >> what serena brought to the game was not only muscles and training but she brought a new attitude of, again, fearlessness. >> enduring unprecedented scrutiny for her race, physique, style, and attitude. >> she's a genius on the court as well as physically dominant. >> opening the door for others. >> her legacy, passion, grit,g to a challenge. >> tears and emotion as she turns the page on her legendary

career. plus, rapper turned councilman. dupree kelly of the iconic rap group lords of the underground now representing newark. the first platinum-selling hip-hop artist elected to public artist. >> for everything that you're doing in the community, that's bigger than a platinum record. >> dropping the mike to make a difference in his community. >> together we can do it! >> together we can do it! >> announcer: "nightline" will be right back.

good evening. thanks for joining us. i'm andrew dymburt. sere,na williams the icon and superstar athlete back at the u.s. open tonight, 23 years after her first grand slam championship. now she's closing a chapter on her historic career, where it all started. here's abc's ashan singh. >> the greatest of all time. >> reporter: it was a celebration fit for a queen. a standing ovation as serena williams stepped onto the court sparkling from head to toe. her shoes encrusted with hundreds of real diamonds. tonight she celebrates her final grand slam tournament before possibly hanging up her racket for good. earlier in the evening serena beating her opponent. >> game, set, and match. serena williams. >> reporter: danka kovinic from

montenegro. in her pursuit of a 24th grand slam singles championship here at the u.s. open. showing her fans that at 40 years old she's still got it. it's a full circle moment for the legend, who won her first ever grand slam singles title at the arthur ashe stadium at the age of 17. >> just keep coming out and supporting me as long as i'm here.3 know that i love you so much and i'm so excited to be here. [ cheers and applause ] so, so, so much. >> reporter: fired-up fans, family members and friends came out in full force at this star-studded event to commemorate her tremendous career as one of the most accomplished tennis players of all time. >> that's what it means for me. being able to persevere as a black person and also just going for your dreams no matter how difficult it may be. >> reporter: williams has been a dominating force in the sport, holding 23 grand slam singles titles and 14 grand slam doubles titles, one with her older sister venus.

>> she's just totally changed tennis forever for women by her power and her agility and her speed. >> reporter: now she's stepping away from the sport she loves so much. the 40-year-old announcing what many interpreted as her retirement earlier this month in "vogue" magazine, saying she will be evolving away from tennis. telling the magazine, "i've been reluctant to admit that i have to move on from playing tennis. it's like a taboo topic. it comes up and i start to cry." you've said that this is the perfect time for serena to retire. what did you mean by that? >> as much passion as she has, the commitment to the game hasn't been 100% because she's with her daughter or she has gotten injured and he she hasn't been able to train as hard with injuries. she's not in her prime anymore. so i don't like to see her getting beaten by players that she's handled very easily. so that's why i think it's the right time for her. >> reporter: serena williams was born in compton, california to richard williams and orasine price.

from a very young age she and her sister venus were pushed to succeed in tennis. >> serena's the total package. i can see the athleticism at 10 years old. >> reporter: rick macy famously coached the williams sisters as they worked to break into the tennis world. >> do you remember the first time you met serena? >> yeah. like yesterday. i went out to compton in 1991. you know, richard invited me out. when i first got on the court, i didn't see it. we started playing competitive points. and the whole landscape changed. they had a burning rage. there was something inside these girls like i've never seen. their desire to get to the ball was unbelievable. >> reporter: their childhood brought to the big screen in the 2021 film "king richard." >> i went up to richard, i said you've got the next female michael jordan on your hands. he puts his arm around me he goes -- >> oh, no, brother man. i gots me the next two. >> but regarding serena, right off the bat she had all the time in the world. she knew where you were going to

hit it before you did. and those were innate qualities that you really can't teach. >> reporter: in 1999 she would win her first grand slam, and the rest is history. her name becoming synonymous with the sport. winning championship after championship. how did the tennis world receive serena when she first started playing? >> well, it depends on which aspect of the tennis world you're talking about. like they didn't know how to talk about her. and by they i mean a lot of the media that was covering her. particularly internationally. i remember one cover from a newspaper in london when she was facing maria sharapova, said "beauty and the beast." sharapova was the beauty. you can figure out who they placed as the beast. and so those little microaggressions that she's had to deal with over and over and over again just reminds you of just how mentally tough she is and why she is guarded at times. but she's still here and she's still standing. and she's leaving on her own terms. and that's incredible. >> reporter: and over the next 20 years serena's icon

blossomed. from perennial athlete to an on-court fashion icon. >> we're talking the blue jean outfit. we're talking the cat suit, the iconic cat suit. obviously like the blonde hair at some points. and a lot of people appreciated it. and some people didn't. but the thing that i loved about her is that she never stopped expressing herself and being herself. her authentic self. in the face of all that criticism. >> reporter: her unique sense of fashion just one of the many things that set her apart. >> did serena change what the modern tennis player looked and played like? >> she changed the way women played. those earlier generations were very ladylike in the way they played, and what serena brought to the game was not only muscles and training and athleticism and falling down for points if she had to, but she brought a new attitude of, again,

fearlessness, of go ahead, go for your shots, it's okay to make mistakes and it's okay to make errors. and to really have ownership of the power that a woman has. >> reporter: that power on full display in 2017, when serena took the court at the australian open. against her most well-studied adversary, her older sister, venus. soundly defeating her to reach a 23rd grand slam singles title while two months pregnant with her daughter olympia. despite making it look easy, serena experienced serious complications with her pregnancy, suffering dangerous blood clots following the birth of her daughter. but even after a brush with death she returned to the court. but serena's storied career was not without controversy. that signature competitive spirit often criticized. >> a lot of who serena's been billed as i think especially in the media has been in response to some of her lowest moments on the court, or some of her

outbursts. >> it is important to remember and acknowledge that she's not completely an innocent victim in all of the way she's been characterized. she too has obviously played a part in contributing to the way that people view her or talk about her or what they choose to focus in on. >> reporter: her fiery temper taking center stage at the 2018 u.s. open finals. amid her match against naomi osaka the then 20-year-old upstart serena lashing out at the chair umpire after she was given a warning for allegedly taking signals from her coach in the stands. >> you owe me an apology! you owe me an apology! i have never cheated in my life! >> reporter: she was later penalized a whole game. after multiple code violations including what the chair umpire called verbal abuse. >> that's the thing about serena. she's a human being with a lot of emotions. some tennis players are able to encapsulate that and keep it within and keep themselves controlled and calm. so it just proves to me that she's a human being.

>> reporter: it always feels like whenever she takes the court all eyes are on her for better or for worse. >> serena's authentic. she believes in speaking out. if she feels it's, you know, the truth. at the end of the day i think everything great about her overshadows all of that. >> reporter: and while serena's legacy has transcended the sport, it's most palpable in a new generation of tennis players. one that looks a lot more like her and her sister. >> a lot of times being a woman in the world, a black woman in the world, you kind of settle for less. ani feel like serena just taught me that from watching her she never settled for less. i can't think of a moment in her career, her life that she settled for less. >> reporter: 18-year-old coco gauff went pro when she was just 14. now ranked number 11, she says serena paved the way for young women like her. what do you think serena williams' legacy is? >> every single time you watch women's tennis and you see power and you see passion and you see

the speed, obviously you make -- you see more people of color. all of that is attached to both venus and serena. >> her legacy, passion, grit, determination, never saying no to a challenge, for me the longevity of her greatness is something that we probably won't see for a very long time. >> reporter: in reflecting on her own legacy, serena wrote in that "vogue" article, "i'd like to think that thanks to the opportunities afforded to me women athletes feel that they can be themselves on the court. they can play with aggression and pump their fists. they can be strong yet beautiful. they can wear what they want and say what they want and kick butt and be proud of it all." >> this is a once in a generational talent. you're never going to see this again. simply because you can't get much better. >> is she the greatest of all time? >> when you think about the fact that she's had to carry this sport in this countryessentiall

years, there's not a lot of athletes regardless of gender or race or discipline that can handle that level of responsibility. you know, of carrying the sport. not just being the best in it but being the sole purpose why the nation tunes in. >> our thanks to ashan. up next, dupre kelly, the rapper turned councilman, dropping the mike to rep his community. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective without topical steroids. many taking rinvoq saw clear or almost-clear skin while some saw up to 100% clear skin.

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rapper dupre kelly rose to the top of the charts with his group lords of the underground. now a councilman from newark, new jersey, becoming the first hip-hop artist elected to public office. here's abc's linsey davis. ♪ >> reporter: born and rse i newark, new jersey dupre do it all kelly went from rapping about his hood in the '90s to repping it nearly three decades later. >> man. how do you follow the mayor of newark, new jersey? >> reporter: kelly of the legendary rap group lords of the underground is the first platinum selling hip-hop artist in the country to ever become an elected official. >> thank you to the westward of newark, new jersey. thank you to mayor razj. baraka. thank you. >> reporter: now 51 and serving as a council member for newark's westward, kelly says he's

hip-hop all grown up. >> tupac shakur and i had a conversation, you know, over 30 years ago. and he said, dude, we can't move from where we're from. we have to stay there. we have to replant in the same soil that we grew from. you know? so that's why i'm still here. >> reporter: still here in his old stomping grounds. as he says, governing where he grew. >> they didn't get the doitall on there. >> yeah. >> reporter: inside his office in city hall -- >> how does it feel to have this hanging in city hall? >> man. that's an honor. >> reporter: this platinum record an ever-present reminder of his first passion, music. but even back then many of his lyrics were about his love for his city. ♪ tick-tock, don't stop ♪ >> i was listening to "tick-tock" and right at the end of the song it says "'cause from

the hood i came into the hood i must return." >> yeah. >> it seems like from early on the thought was i'm going to govern where i grew. >> you know, we talk about a song i wrote over 30 years ago, and i didn't think that it would have an impact. i was just speaking my truth through a different pathway. you know, tick-tock, this is how we rock. >> reporter: kelly's activism for the community started when he was young, with hip-hop culture in his neighborhood serving as the inspiration for the message in his music. his mentor and former manager always encouraged him to pursue his passion. >> remember, hip-hop at its inception, at the very beginning was very political. this really is a challenge for hip-hop to get back to its roots. his activism goes back to being as a teenager. this is a natural progression from being a front line artist, an activist artist, to a public servant. >> i'm a son of newark.

i know those -- i know those streets. i know those avenues. you know, i came up in that ward. i was born in that ward. >> so this is where it all started. >> yes. this is where it all started. top of 19th street. newark, new jersey. westward. >> reporter: the first floor of this pale blue childhood home sandwiched between the houses on south 19th street is where he used to write rhymes and dream about the possibilities for the future. tell me about what happened inside this house. >> oh, man. so many things happened inside this house. i had a mother who showed me what unconditional love was. i wrote some of the -- our biggest-selling records. taking care of my little sister when my mother wasn't home. the house was at the center of it all for me. >> reporter: he was raised by brenda kelly, a single mother who says her son's familiar face in in neighborhood helps citizens feel more comfortable about the politician they voted for. >> no one trusts politicians. and rightly so. he gets out there and by him being born there they trust him.

they finally had someone from their home that could represent them. >> reporter: it almost didn't happen. back in 2018 kelly lost the race for councilman. >> back in 2018 i don't feel like it was a loss. i learned so much that i couldn't stop. i would have felt like a sucker. >> i do solemnly swear. that i will support the constitution of the united states. >> reporter: on june 14th he was sworn into office, representing not just his block but newark's westward after winning with 58% of the vote. >> congratulations, ladies and gentlemen. welcome back to -- >> reporter: food insecurity, affordable housing, child illiteracy are just some of the issues kelly says he'll tackle in his westward revitalization plan. >> yeah, man. we just want to represent for you. >> reporter: tell us about 211. >> 211 community impact started off with education. started off with literacy. and then we became everything. so that started to put me more at the doors, in the households,

in the community hand in hand with the people. >> reporter: from south orange to ivy hill. >> thank you. >> and i'll go with the rainbow. >> reporter: the councilman walks through these streets with great pride and dedication to his people. how important is it do you think for the residents here to see somebody who's, as you've been saying, governing where they grew? >> when you grow up here in bad times or good times, you're closest to the people who struggle. and that struggle creates passion. and that passion comes from the pain that the people feel. and when you understand the pain, you can address it better. >> reporter: kelly says the place that raised him is what made him. >> i just believe when you love your city you can change it. >> reporter: he's gone from rapping about his experience to now trying to beat the rap that politicians rarely make a difference in their communities. >> one thing i can say is all of the money that i've made with hip-hop and all of the accolades that we received from hip-hop,

it doesn't compare to being a giver in your own city. for everything that you're doing in the community. that's bigger than a platinum record. >> together we can do it! [ crowd responding "together we can do it" ] >> together we can do it! >> our thanks to linsey. up next, mickey mantle. nearly 30 years after his death the baseball great is still shattering records. living with type 2 diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider about ways to lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. learn more at getrealaboutdiabetes.com (vo) purina one has the inside story on your pet's health. it starts inside the gut... with purina one

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my 100% all-white-meat spicy chicken strips are back. look at them sitting there. just sitting there. can't believe we hired a director for this. spicy chicken strips starting at $5.49 are back at jack in the box. finally tonight, a 1952 mickey mantle baseball card fetching a jaw-dropping 12.6 million at auction.

that's the most money ever spent on a piece of sports memorabilia. it tops the previous record of $9.3 million for a jersey worn by soccer legend diego maradona. the card of the late new york yankee was purchased in 1991 for $50,000. that's "nightline." you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here at the same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america. >> abc news. honored for excellence with 41 emmy nominations. the most of any news organization anywhere. thank you for