“Definitely Hard”: How Serena Williams Felt When Venus Got a Coach And She Didn’t

Serena Williams and Venus Williams are a superhero duo in tennis. The whole world knows their names and their talents. Now, with the release of ‘King Richard’, the world knows their story, too.

The biographical drama tells the story of the Williams sisters, and how Serena and her elder sister Venus fought to rise to the top of the tennis world.

Serena Williams used to watch Venus’ training footage

As depicted in the movie, the sisters’ father, Richard Williams enlisted the help of coach Paul Cohen. However, Cohen only agreed to coach one of the sisters for free. Consequently, Serena had to stay at home while Venus trained.

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Richard Williams remained equally concerned with Serena’s game, too. Thus, he recorded all the training sessions and brought them home for Serena to watch and train. Serena herself recalls that period where she trained with her mother, watching those tapes. “It (that period) was definitely hard, but also at the same time, I knew I wasn’t on that level yet,” Serena Williams says in an interview with USA Today.

On working with her mother instead of a professional coach, Serena revealed, “I really did not like working with my mom because she was so tough.” Furthermore, she shared what she learned from that time on the court with her mother. “I had to just have a lot more tenacity than I thought I could have ever had,” she revealed.

Serena’s mother gave her some tough love on the court

In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Serena revealed how she felt about training with her mother. She shared how she despised being on the court. Furthermore, the young Serena Williams was even prone to throwing tantrums on the court during her training!

Serena revealed how she would often express her ‘hatred’ for the Compton court that she trained on by herself. She even admitted to crying, but her mother, Oracene remained unperturbed. Her tough love is what Serena credits her own never-back-down attitude and resilience to.

Serena Williams does not shy away from the admission that she is a product of the women who came before her. Not only is she grateful to her mother for training her, but she also expresses her gratitude to her sister Venus for opening so many doors for her and other women in the sport. “Venus had also opened so many doors. All I had to do was walk through it.”

“There’s absolutely no Serena without Venus,” Serena shares.

In the words of Richard Williams himself, the world not only respects Venus and Serena Williams but will forever be in awe of them.

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