“A Human Success Story”: Will Smith Dedicates Epic Tribute to Venus and Serena Williams on ‘King Richard’ Sets

Actor Will Smith, who will be seen essaying the role of Richard Williams, the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams in the movie titled King Richard, has been receiving rave responses for evoking honest emotions from that character.

The film, which is slated to release on the 19th of this month, also features Demi Singleton as Serena and Saniyya Sidney as Venus Williams. The movie chronicles the Williams household and their struggle to make the sisters excel in the field of tennis.

Will Smith gives an epic speech thanking the Williams household for King Richard

During King Richard’s shoot, both Serena and Venus attended the sets one day to meet the actors. The film’s official twitter account posted a three-minute long clip of how Will Smith introduced Demi and Saniyya to the Williams sisters and the stories both of them shared.

Towards the end of the video, the actor was seen giving an epic tribute to the Williams household and eventually thanked them for giving him an opportunity to portray an important character on-screen.

“The story is a story of dreams coming true. This is a story with the good and the bad that says your family is a human success story. You guys showed what it’s like to believe in yourselves, what its like to love and to be a unit and to hold tight and firmly together in face of all kinds of opposition. I wanna thank you, and I wanna thank your family for giving me the opportunity to be a part of that”. 

Venus and Serena Williams had forgettable runs at the WTA tour this year

Looking at the tennis season of both Serena and Venus Williams this year, it was largely forgettable for both the sisters. Even though the 23-time Grand Slam champion managed to reach the semis at the Australian Open earlier this year, she failed to continue the same momentum for the rest of the season.

At Wimbledon, where the former world no.1 was expected to succeed, she was forced to retire from her first-round matchup against Aliaksandra Sasnovich after slipping on-court and injuring her ankle.

Watch this story: Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams Lead the List of Most-Followed Tennis Players on Instagram

Coming to Venus Williams, the seven-time major champion made use of the wild-cards given to her and played as many matches as possible but couldn’t make a deep run in any of the tournaments.

The 2022 Australian Open is what both the legendary sisters will be targeting next year. The duo met each other during the finals at Melbourne four years ago in a match where Serena dominated Venus to clinch her 23rd major title.

Also read: “How Are You Daddy?” Serena Williams to Will Smith on ‘King Richard’ Sets