When Venus and Serena Williams first began playing tennis before joining Rick Macci, they both used to practice at the Compton public courts with their father and then coach Richard Williams. The amazingly talented sisters have spent their initial training sessions and basic learnings on those public courts. The elder Williams’ sister once recalled a story about how they continued playing on the courts even after hearing several shots being fired. 

Till the age of 11 and 10, the legendary tennis players were trained in the basics of the sport on the public courts of Compton. That is, until 1991, when they moved to Florida. 

Venus Williams recalls a shooting incident that irked her mother

When the future stars practiced at the public courts with their father, they always had one rule. Whenever they used to hear shots being fired around them, they had to duck down. However, their mother, Oracene Price, always worried about her children playing in the public courts in a risky area. 

The seven-time Grand Slam champion recalled an incident from her formative years in Compton. She said, “There was one time where a car passed by and a guy raised out of the sun roof and started shooting, but we actually kept practicing.”

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After this incident, their father cautiously told the sisters to not tell their mother about the incident as she would freak out. However, the young Venus Williams at that time didn’t listen to her father and shared the entire story with her mother. Williams’ mother always hated to let her girls practice at that park. The former world number one said, “And I guess she got so mad, we didn’t practice there for a while. After a while, we started going back to practicing there. So that’s the whole story.”

How the Williams sisters made their way from public parks to public hearts

From dreaming of becoming one of the greatest tennis players of all time to dominating the tennis court during their illustrious careers, the Williams sisters made their dream come true over the past three decades, a dream that started in the public courts of Compton.

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After moving to Florida and joining Rick Macci, the iconic tennis duo never looked back. They have both changed the way the world saw black women athletes. They created history on the tennis court and have paved a journey for the younger tennis generation to fight for their goals. The elder sister’s first title came in 2000, when she defeated Lindsay Davenport at Wimbledon. On the other hand, Serena Williams won her first title in 1999 at the US Open. In a predominantly white-dominant sport like tennis, the Williams sisters showed the world that athletes from minority communities can also make a name for themselves through their illustrious careers. 

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