Richard Williams’ presence is instrumental in the lives of his daughters Venus and Serena Williams. Although he was never formally trained as a tennis player, Richard took it upon himself to teach the sport to his daughters through unconventional methods. Serena, in particular, became notorious on the court for her immense service game. Several veterans in the sport have praised his role in building the careers of his tennis legend daughters. Recently, the former Australian professional tennis player and ex-coach of the 23-time Grand Slam champion, Rennae Stubbs, opened up about the influential life of Richard Williams.

In the latest episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, she credited Richard Williams for teaching football to his daughters, in addition to tennis. In Stubbs’ opinion, their football education made a telling difference to Venus and Serena’s respective service motions.

Stubbs hails ‘perfect example’ Richard for improving Serena Williams

At a particular point during the podcast, Stubbs was talking about the importance of service motion. She praised Richard Williams for being the “perfect example” of a parent, teaching his children tennis without having any formal training.

Stubbs said, “Did Richard know anything about tennis? No.” She added, “He taught her to throw football. If you can’t throw a football, you probably can’t serve very well.”

According to Stubbs, knowing how to throw a football the right way can help develop the right service motion technique. Talking about the same, she stated, “If you have a really good serving technique, I bet you know how to throw a football.”

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Richard Williams broke all norms but still saw his daughters succeed

It was the Romanian star Virginia Ruzici who inspired Richard Williams to encourage his daughters to take up tennis quite early on in their lives. He created a blueprint for shaping sisters Venus and Serena into professional tennis players. However, it was in 1995 that Williams did something revolutionary.

Back then, the sisters were learning their trade at a tennis academy. Williams withdrew both of them and started teaching them himself. As a result, Williams faced considerable criticism. Several critics believed that this choice would damage the prospects of both sisters. However, there were some who were optimistic.

Ultimately, it was the optimists whose predictions came true, as both Venus and Serena cemented their legacy in the professional circuit. Since turning professional, Venus and Serena have won 7 and 23 singles Grand Slam titles, respectively. Throughout their careers, their father remained an ever-present figure of love, support, and encouragement.

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