‘We Can’t Find Anyone in the Top 20 That Will Agree To Play With Her’- LA Lakers Governor Explains the Difficulty She Faced in Finding Venus Williams an Opponent

When Venus and Serena Williams entered the professional tennis circuit, they created an aura of being unbeatable tennis sensations of their time. However, there was a time when the present LA Lakers president, Jeanie Buss, faced a lot of problems in finding an opponent for the 7-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams.

Before entering basketball, the sports executive was an active part of the tennis circuit. She used to organize and plan matches for tennis stars for various occasions and tournaments. She was the link that connected a lot of tennis players and brought about amazing competition on the tennis court.

Jeanie Buss once felt finding a partner for Venus Williams was the hardest 

The 61-year-old Lakers president recently appeared on the podcast show, Advantages Connors. The show is hosted by legend, Jimmy Connors, along with his son. In that interview, the well-known personality recalled her conversation with King Richard over the problem of not being able to find any opponent for the elder Williams’ sister. 

When the seven-time Grand Slam champion was around 14 or 15 years old, the prevailing perception was that she can beat any tennis player of any age. However, because of this, there were no players ready to play against her in a simple exhibition match.

Nevertheless, when the now Lakers’ controlling owner could not find anyone to play against the teenage tennis player, she found out that the supposedly unbeatable tennis player also had a sister in the same sport while conversing with King Richard.

She said, “So I went back to her father Richard Williams. And said, we can’t find anyone in the top 20 that will agree to play her in an exhibition. He said actually, the person who gives her the best match is her sister, Serena. And I said there’s another Williams daughter, are you kidding me?” 

READ MORE – ‘Daddy Was Sweating..’- Serena Williams Once Revealed Obscure Tale of Sister Venus Williams Thumping ‘King’ Richard in Compton 

However, in the same conversation, she also revealed how the amazing father used this opportunity to wax eloquent about his daughter’s talent to anybody in the realm of tennis who was willing to lend an ear.

King Richard’s attempts to increase Venus’s visibility 

While talking about women’s tennis, Jeanie Buss recalled a conversation about how King Richard pestered her during tennis events to find her elder daughter an opportunity to showcase her talent on an elite level. She also highlighted how the proud father advocated his daughter’s talent out to the world. 

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It’s no surprise that the doting Williams’ father left no stone unturned to make a path for his daughters into the tennis world. And why not? It was his dream too, to see his daughters as the best tennis players of all time.