‘Being a Minority Was Very Compelling’ – Venus and Serena Williams’ Father ‘King’ Richard’s Unorthodox Coaching Praised by Retired American Tennis Star

The Williams sisters have been two of the most dominant players that sport has seen in the Open Era. Venus and Serena Williams trained tirelessly on the public tennis courts of Compton under the guidance of their father, Richard Williams. The influence of Richard on his daughters’ careers has been praised by many renowned personalities in the sporting world over the years, and the retired American tennis player, Vania King, was one of them.

Serena and Venus Williams trained from an early age to become one of the best tennis players the world has ever seen. Vania King has admitted that the mighty duo has created an aura of their own that no other active player has.

King praises Venus and Serena Williams’ disciplined training

The former doubles world no.3, Vania King spoke about Richard Williams’ unique method of training in a podcast episode on October the 6th. The movie ‘King Richard’ rightly showed how Richard challenged tennis and transformed it with a mission to bring his daughters Venus and Serena to the forefront of the sport. Vania King rightfully called the vision enlightening the African-American community for generations to come.

During an episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, King said, “Yeah, I mean, Serena is amazing. She started a decade before me. I watched her on TV and then we played together. I feel honored now that I was able to play against her. And then she retired, you know, a few years after I did. Yeah, that just shows what a legacy that she has physically emotionally, mentally and also, just in terms of history.”

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Richard Williams was a huge inspiration for King’s father. King expressed her extreme gratitude for Serena Williams’ father. King described how her father gave rigorous training to her and her siblings. She further added, “And we’ll do six to eight hours of tennis a day. And so there were the tough parts of it, you know, there was a lot of rigor involved. But I mean, most importantly, there was an inspiration, you know, someone that was, I mean, didn’t look quite like me.”

Vain King also highlighted how Richard Williams paved the way for athletes from other minority communities. She was quoted “Being a minority was very compelling, you know, having a father that coaches, his daughters, which is very different than the, frankly, white male-dominated sport, where a white coach wearing white clothes teaching a white player, so it was breaking mould. And I think that gave my parents and my dad specifically a lot of inspiration. “

Richard Williams is battling his poor health

Williams now lives in Atlanta and has been in poor health for several years. The 80-year-old legendary coach suffered two serious strokes in 2016. Richard Williams’ role as coach of Venus and Serena Williams into the two idols they are today only heightened the respect many have for him.

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Williams also suffers from a neurological disorder that affects his ability to speak. Thus, he rarely made any appearances at his daughters’ matches over the past few years.

What do you think of Richard Williams’ influence on his daughters’ career?