‘Even as an 11-Year-Old’- Coach Rick Macci Reveals Where Serena Williams’ Raging Intensity First Began

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Tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams have inspired many young athletes across sports to follow their passion. While they ruled the WTA Tour for the past two decades, there’s a lot of hard work and preparation that goes behind it. The preparation, in their case, started pretty early, under the watchful eye of their father, Richard Williams, and later, Rick Macci.
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Macci, much like their father, nurtured them and prepared them to cope with the intensity of the professional tour. In the years that he coached the Williams sisters, he observed their playing style and attitude from close quarters. Recently, in an interview, he revealed a particular incident that happened while he was coaching Serena Williams.
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Serena Williams had the determination to be number 1
Serena, as per Macci, was a fierce competitor from a very young age. Full of energy, the younger Williams sister was sure about becoming the world number 1 tennis player in the future. Macci recalled an incident that made him believe Serena.
“Serena is 11 and Venus is 12 and it’s the middle of July. It’s like 110 degrees. Move your feet. She goes, why? She gives me that look. A lot of people have seen that look at the US Open. She had that look even as an 11-year-old, and I go, you say you wanna be number one. She goes, I will be number one,” he said.
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‘We Brought Back the Dance!’ – Serena Williams Once Thanked Fellow ‘Clown’ Novak Djokovic for Reinstating an Old Wimbledon Tradition
Serena climbed the rankings very early in her career and reached the pinnacle of the WTA rankings on the 8th of July, 2002.
Williams to play in two different tournaments before the US Open
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The former world number 1 had a disappointing end to her comeback campaign in the Wimbledon Championships 2022. Playing after a long gap, she looked rusty, as the 40-year-old did not play many games before entering the tournament.

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LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY – AUGUST 14: Serena Williams serves during her match against Shelby Rogers during Top Seed Open – Day 5 at the Top Seed Tennis Club on August 14, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
However, Serena looks pretty determined to go for the US Open title and will be participating in the National Bank Open in Toronto and the Cincinnati Masters before the start of the US Open.
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Watch this story: Novak Djokovic turns into spider-man as he hits the shot of the tournament during his victory over Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon Championships 2022
Serena has 23 Grand Slam titles and needs only one more to equal the all time record of Margaret Court. Now that the American is putting in a lot of effort, it will be interesting to see if she can go all the way in her home Grand Slam.
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Edited by:
Tony Thomas
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