As a teenager Jeanette Lee was shy and lacking in self-confidence. Then at age 18 she discovered pool and her life underwent a dramatic transformation. Four years later she became a professional nine-ball player. Two years after that she was the best player in the world and today she remains among the game's leading practitioners.

“I think being good at anything gives you confidence,” Lee said. "Working hard at anything and seeing its rewards feels good. It gives you a really good feeling about yourself.”

A native of New York City, Lee learned the game in pool halls around the city while making side trips to New Jersey and Long Island. Oftentimes she would play in a tournament every night of the week, paying a $25 entry fee to test her skills against perhaps the most competitive collection of players in the world. “It was great practice for me,” she said. “In terms of the competitiveness. Not that I wasn’t competitive to begin with but when you put your money where your mouth is and your heart’s in your throat it’s just a different feeling.”

When she joined the Women’s Professional Billiard Association tour in 1992 at the age of 20 the long hours in the pool halls had sharpened Lee’s competitive instincts. She sensed immediately that she could compete with the best professionals in the world.

“I had it pictured in my mind that they were much better than they were,” Lee said. “And that isn’t taking anything away from them, it’s just that I was coming out of New York where I had the best men pool players in the world (as opponents). So beating any of them was like nothing. The women’s level at that time was not where it is today. The women play way better now than when I first turned pro.”

The object of nine ball is to sink all nine balls on the table in order or off of combinations. The player who sinks the nine ball wins the game. When Lee steps to the table she sees a series of shots and patterns leading from one ball to the next.

“I probably am just thinking about a making strategic plan as to how I’m going to get to the nine ball,” Lee said. “I look at the lay of the table, I see if all the balls are open, meaning there aren’t tied up clusters of balls that would prove to be a problem. And then I start from the one and I look at them. Mostly I think I probably start backwards at the nine, then the eight, the seven, the six, where I would need to be on the eight in order to get on the nine, where I would need to be on the seven in order to get on the eight and so on.”

Within two years Lee was the number one player in the world and attracting a lot of attention. Her striking good looks and the black clothing she wore during tournament play earned her the nickname The Black Widow.

But it wasn’t her play or even her appearance that brought her notoriety. It was her tableside demeanor. Her ferocity in the heat of battle is reminiscent of Michael Jordan at his peak, breaking down opponents, or Bob Gibson, the Hall of Fame pitcher of the 1960's and 70's destroying whole teems seemingly by force of will.

Quite simply, Lee is one of the most competitive athletes on the face of the earth.

“You’ve got to have the skill,” Lee said. “But once you're at a certain level there’s going to be a number of people that have that skill. Once you get right there it’s going to be who really wants to win. Just that mental toughness that you’ve just got to win, you want to win, you’re going to do whatever it takes to win. And that's got to be there. When it’s not you tend to fade away.”

At times Lee’s competitive instincts have strained her relationships with her fellow professionals. But she insists it's not her wish to be controversial or confrontational.

"I never curse at the table,” Lee said. “I never dog my opponents or anything like that. Sure if someone asks me if I’m going to be world champion I’ll be up front and say ‘Yeah.’ What do you think when you’re at the table? I’m thinking ‘I’m going to drill you.’ But its not to say you’re terrible or you can’t play; it’s not to put anyone down.”

Lee’s record is all the more remarkable considering her state of health. At 13 she was diagnosed with scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. A steel rod was surgically implanted in her back to stabilize her spine. The rod was removed in 2000 when Lee, now 28, was in the process of undergoing s series of operations to correct a herniated disk, bursitis and bicep tendonitis in addition to undergoing laser surgery to correct nearsightedness.

Lee won five tournaments in 1999 but missed a big chunk of the 2000 season recuperating and is now ranked eight in the world. Her back problems force her to play in pain much of the time. But she reached the finals of the national nine-ball championship before losing to the top-ranked player in the world, Allison Fisher. Clearly Lee plans on being around for awhile.

Lee is now expanding her horizons. She is the National Spokesperson for the Scoliosis Association and recently was named to the Board of Trustees of the Women’s Sports Foundation.

And most of all she wants to her game back to peak form, to find that special zone that only great athletes know.

Not really so much the top ranking,” Lee said. “Which is a nice bonus but if I had to choose it would be to be at the top of my game, probably because my passion for pool is so much greater than my passion for glory.

With pool it’s something so much deeper. I love pool so much and when I play great there’s nothing better in the world.”