“There was a lot of tennis in
our lives, but it was never the
most important thing in our lives.”
Straight Outta Compton
It all began in Los Angeles, after all.
Compton, specifically. When Williams
takes on her naysayers with strength
and even a sense of bravado, her
upbringing often inspires her. Playing
on the public tennis courts’ cracked
concrete, Williams and her sister devoted themselves to
practice while drug dealers did business nearby, and the
sound of a drive-by shooting sometimes interrupted sets.
“We grew up in a tough area,” Williams says of the
now-familiar story, “and it helped us get tough as a result. And it wasn’t something that was always bad, either.
There were lots of kids around all the time, sometimes
stopping by to watch us on their way home from school. I
liked that. I miss that sometimes.”
Williams won 46 of her first 49 amateur tournaments.
In the early 1990s, though, the sisters’ father, Richard,
took the gamble of his life when he sent his two daugh-
ters to play tennis in Delray Beach, Fla., at a school run
by Rick Macci, a pro who had listed Jennifer Capriati and
Mary Pierce among his success stories. Richard Williams
moved his entire family to Florida, and tennis emerged as
a six-day-a-week job for the Williams sisters. At age 14, in
1995, Serena Williams turned pro. All of this adds to the
public impression that Richard Williams is yet another in
a long line of classically sports-obsessed parents. But his
daughter says nothing could be further from
the truth.
“There’s this impression that he’s been
calling all the shots in our careers,” Williams
says. “That couldn’t be more wrong. Many,
many years ago he decided to let us take
control of our own destinies. He has always
expected us to make our own decisions
about what tournaments we would play. He’s
always said that tennis is a very small part of
life and you have to design your own path.
“There was a lot of tennis in our lives,
but it was never the most important thing
in our lives. If we did not have straight A’s
we did not practice. It’s that simple. OK,
maybe you were allowed the occasional B.
But definitely no C’s. Fortunately, we were
both really good students, and we didn’t
want to miss any time on the court, so we
got the A’s we needed. And our father made
sure that we never missed any of our church
meetings. He always made sure we took
time out for family vacations and road trips.
He wanted us to have a well-rounded life. I
really enjoyed my childhood, and my dad is
the kindest, sweetest man I’ll ever know. He
gave me the same kind of life I’d want my
kids to have, when that time comes.”
After turning pro, Williams’ career hit
the fast track. By the end of 1997 she was
ranked in the top 100. One year later she was
in the top 20. Then came the “Serena Slam”
in 2003, and there was, seemingly, nothing
that could stop her. Adding to the dramatics:
Every one of those four Slam final victories
came against her sister.
“That’s the way I prefer it,” she says. “I’m
sitting there in the stands watching her, and
I’ll never root against her, of course. I want
her to reach her fullest potential and she
wants me to reach mine. The only way that
happens is if we both end up in the final,
In 2007, Williams
capped a comeback
year with victory at the
Australian Open.
