Tennis icon Serena Williams was a surprise speaker when Maria Sharapova was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Williams' surprise appearance to induct Sharapova was "months in the making" and required the code name of another female icon.

But the weekend stars shined a little brighter than expected when Serena Williams made a surprise appearance at the historic venue off Bellevue Avenue on Aug. 23. After years of battling each other on the court, Sharapova and Williams found the essence of one another.