“A Real No-Nonsense Lady”: Serena Williams Once Said That Her Mom Was Very Different From Her Father Richard Williams

Richard Williams gets most of the credit for the success of his daughters, Serena Williams and Venus Williams on the WTA Tour. The recognition he gets for their dominance in tennis is earned as he made his daughters the best players on the professional circuit. Coach Rick Macci was also another important individual behind the success of the Williams sisters. However, one figure is seldom talked about. That person is Oracene Price, the mother of the Williams sister. Serena, in her 2009 autobiography, gave her the long overdue credit that she deserved for her daughters’ success.

Richard Williams and Oracene Price both coached their daughters. However, people rarely talk about Price’s role in their successful careers. Although she didn’t know how to teach tennis before she started coaching her daughters, she learned the game while teaching with them.

Serena Williams on her mother’s coaching

In her book ‘My Life: Queen of the Court’, Serena gives a short account of how she was learning tennis under her mother. She said that Oracene Price was an important part of her tennis career, but many people fail to recognize it.

She starts by saying that when she was a kid; it was mostly her mom who coached her, even though she worked most of the time. “When we were kids, it was mostly just me and my mom. She was working a lot, that’s true, but almost all of my one-on-one training was with her.”

Serena says her mom had a no-nonsense attitude, which meant that her sole focus was on the drills. “She’s a lot different from my dad in her approach. She’s tough – a real no-nonsense lady. It was all about the drill with her and I remember thinking it was really boring on her court.”

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To Serena, on Richard’s side of the court, Venus Williams seemed to be having more fun, with less stringent instructions. She had a starkly different experience than her sister’s. Oracene kept yelling out instructions and told Serena to focus on several aspects of her game. “She was always barking out instructions, telling me to move up on the ball or pay attention to my footwork, reminding me the purpose of each little exercise. Daddy had a more gentle demeanor.”

Apart from coaching Serena, Price also played a pivotal role in maintaining the bond between the sisters after they became rivals on the professional circuit.

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Both the Williams’ sister had experience with coaching that was suited to their personalities. The coaching methods of their parents paid off as they became some of the best players in the history of women’s tennis.