‘She Was Up’: Venus Williams Reveals How Serena Williams Motivated Her on Lazy Days

Venus Williams is one of the most decorated tennis stars of all time. Moreover, her younger sister Serena Williams, too, is right alongside her in the history books.

The Williams sisters have inspired countless people across the world. They struggled against all odds to become two of the greatest athletes in the world, together.

In fact, Venus Williams has now shared how Serena herself acted as a source of motivation for her.

Young Serena Williams motivated Venus to never be lazy

In a recent Instagram live, Venus Williams talked about New Year’s Resolutions. Moreover, she also took questions from fans, and one fan asked her how she stayed encouraged. “How do you motivate yourself when you’re not feeling it?” they asked.

Venus began her answer with how Serena and she have lived together almost their entire lives.  Then, she describes how sometimes she herself did not feel like practicing.

“I remember not wanting to get out of bed and go to practice, I wasn’t feeling it,” Venus remembers. However, in moments like those, Serena Williams acted as the source of her motivation.

“I would hear the door chime go and I knew Serena had gone out to practice,” Venus said. “That was so motivating for me. She was up, I had to get better too,” the 7-time Grand Slam champion expressed.

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Thus, just by stopping at nothing to go practice, Serena Williams became the reason Venus, too, was able to beat the blues and stay encouraged to put in the work.

Venus Williams shares a life lesson

After sharing this memory of how Serena Williams motivated Venus to practice, the older Williams sister made that a life lesson to share with all her fans. “Surround yourself with people who are doing great things,” Venus stated.

“That way you can rise with them,” she continued. However, she also attaches a small warning to the lesson. Venus talks about how one must not give in to envy when they consciously surround themselves with people who work hard and do great things.

“We can’t then go and get jealous- actually it’s a moment for us to learn!” she teaches. Then, circling back to the conversation about not feeling motivated, she had one last tidbit of wisdom to share.

“Not feeling motivated is an emotion- we can’t be driven by emotions in life,” Venus shared. She explained how “we have to take control of our lives” instead of letting emotions govern our actions.

Both Venus and Serena Williams have been in the elite and great company of each other their entire lives, which easily shows in the way both sisters have their names in the history books of the sport for eternity.

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