How Richard Williams Planned Out Venus and Serena Williams’ Career

Venus and Serena Williams’ father, Richard Williams, has played a huge role in their lives. He has supported and pushed them throughout their careers. Richard is a major reason why the world is witnessing two of the greatest tennis players today.

To recognize his contribution, HBO is releasing a biopic based on the life of Richard Williams, ‘King Richard’. Interestingly, renowned Hollywood star Will Smith is playing his character in the movie.

How did Serena Williams’ father get the idea of transforming his two daughters into tennis players?

In a recent interview with CNN, Richard Williams revealed how he got the idea of shaping his daughters, Venus and Serena, into tennis players. It was in Compton when he first saw former Romanian player, Virginia Ruzici, getting a big check after her win. He saw it on his television and immediately told his wife that they would become rich soon.

“I watched it (tennis) in television in Compton. The TV we had, it had a remote control. A guy called Bud Collins gave a girl named Virginia a cheque. I don’t remember what the cheque was now. But I thought that’s a hell of a lot of money for four days. I went to my wife and told her we’re gonna have two kids and become rich,” said Richard in the interview. And astonishingly, that’s exactly how it panned out

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“Wrote a eighty five page plan for Venus”- Richard Williams

In the same interview, Richard highlighted that even though his wife didn’t agree with him initially, he stuck to his plan. He later disclosed that he wrote a full plan for both his daughters and designed their career.

“They’re gonna be tennis players. She said no, but we did, we had two kids and I wrote an eighty five-page plan for Venus, I wrote a plan for Serena, of what I wish to do and how it’d be done, and how I’d carry it out,” added the 79-year-old.

‘King Richard’ will hit the theatres on November 19, 2021. The film will discuss many more such incidents and thus, fans are quite exhilarated about the movie. Will it be able to break every record on the box office?

Also Read: Where Did Venus and Serena Williams’ Father Richard Williams Learn Tennis From?