It has been a long, long time since Mirjana Lucic-Baroni has seen the fourth round of a Grand Slam. Last time she reached the round of 16 in a major, the year was 1999 and the world was a completely different place. No Twitter. No Facebook. No YouTube. No smartphones. No high-def television and no "Keeping Up With Kardashians." Even worse, no Tennis Channel. (How did we ever survive?)
Today, she advanced to unfamiliar territory in the Open by defeating Simona Halep, the tournament's No. 2 seed. It was her second improbable victory over a seeded opponent this week; she upset No. 25 Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the first round.
After today's win, she wiped away tears during her post-match press conference and called it the best day of her life. "I feel 15 again," she said.
In honor of Lucic-Baron's tennis rebirth here in Flushing Meadows, let's take a look at life in 1999, the year of her last good run in a Grand Slam event:
-- Apple released its first laptop, the PowerBook.
-- Ricky Martin was Livin' La Vida Loca on the radio.
-- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, The Sixth Sense, Toy Story 2, Austin Powers, and the Matrix led the box office.
-- Brandi Chastain took off her jersey after scoring the winning penalty kick for the U.S. in the Women's World Cup.
-- Bill Clinton was acquitted.
-- Family Guy debuted on television.
-- A gallon of gas was $1.22.
-- Napster changed the way we obtain our music.
-- Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France.
-- Cici Bellis, one of the star's of this year's US Open, was born.
Welcome back, Mirjana.
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