“Wanted Her to Fail”: 29 Years After Orchestrating Venus Williams’ Debut, Her Childhood Coach Remembers the Overwhelming Negativity

Richard Williams is one of the biggest reasons Serena Williams and Venus Williams became some of the greatest players of the WTA. Richard, along with their childhood coach, Rick Macci, took them to new heights. Now, Macci shares tidbits of their time together. Recently, he talked about people’s negative outlook on them when they were new on the circuit.

Macci has shared their experiences together, and some of the techniques Richard used to improve his daughters. He was happy to see them lose points, which would fire them up even more. His methods were unorthodox, and Macci uncovered them.

Childhood coach on the overwhelming negativity during Venus Williams’ matches

When Macci decided to take on the Williams sisters, they were just children. He led them into their teenage years, and they built their foundation with him. While Macci was smitten with their dedication, others on the circuit did not feel the same. Recently, Macci dived into Venus Williams’s perception when she started playing on the senior tour. 

“Richard was a rebel. And this was new. I kinda liked it. Because a lot of people didn’t like him. And I probably wasn’t as much the flavor of the month because I endorsed it. Even when I took her to make her (Venus) debut in 1994 in Oakland, California, everybody wanted this little girl to fail. It was crazy. The media wanted her to fail.”

The negative outlook the tennis world had of them would be quite deterring to any other player. However, it only proved to fire the two sisters further, and they now have tens of grand slams. Richard had unorthodox ideas and methods, which made him a rebel. Macci shared a phenomenon that made Richard happy as a coach.

The effect of the Compton rage

When a player loses a point, it can disrupt their focus. But some players only get more fired up. The Williams sisters belonged to this criteria. When they were younger and losing in practice matches, Venus and Serena would be filled with immensely focused rage. This would push them forward and help them improve.

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Macci called this phenomenon the ‘Compton Rage’ and, as per the star-studded coach, it was often a favorite sight of Richard. He would love to see his daughters lose and become even more passionate about winning. King Richard was not the usual coach on tour and would implement many out-of-the-box ideas. While many initially disagreed with them, they are now eating their words.

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