“Venus Williams’ Hunger to Get to the Ball Was off the Charts” – First Coach Rick Macci

American star Venus Williams became a professional tennis player back in 1994 when she was just 14. It is now 2020, and she is a 7-time Grand Slam Champion still playing tennis even though she is going to turn 40 on the 17th of June. On account of this birthday, the Mirror did an interview with her first coach, Rick Macci. Check out what he said.

Venus Williams’ When She Was Young

In the interview, Rick Macci remembered Venus Williams’ birthday back in 1992 when she was just 12 years old. He said,

“Her birthday wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies and sunshine. She had only one goal in mind – to be the best in the world. I’ve never seen that much determination in anyone of any age. Even at 12, Venus knew she was going to be the world’s No 1 tennis player and a Wimbledon champion.”

This determination is what led Venus to train day tirelessly to become one of the best tennis players in the world. Later in the interview, Rick talked about the first time he trained Venus and said,

“Venus wasn’t anything special, arms and legs and hair beads flying like a tornado. Then we played for points and suddenly her footwork was faster, her focus rose and her hunger to get to the ball was off the charts.”

He went on to talk about how her father brought a unique method of training and said,

“He threw beer bottles into the backcourt so that the broken glass forced them up to the net. Also, He pulled his ’57 Chevy up and blasted the radio, teaching the girls to ignore distractions. He made them use old balls that hardly bounced, so they’d have to bend to dig them out.”

Clearly, this unconventional training approach worked extremely well for Venus Williams. She has won 49 WTA titles with 7 of them being Grand Slams and she will be looking to win more especially since she hasn’t won a Major since 2008.

Just like she did when she was young, she is probably training extremely hard to win one again. And every tennis fan will be hoping she will do it once the WTA Tour returns from its suspension but before that, she is going to be enjoying her upcoming birthday.