Home

Tennis

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

Published 07/20/2022, 7:30 AM EDT

Follow Us

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.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

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.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest Tennis stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

‘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

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

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.

via Getty

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

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.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Gaurav Verma

1,113Articles

One take at a time

Gaurav Verma is a Tennis Author at EssentiallySports. He has post graduate diploma in management from IILM Graduate School of Management and a BBA degree from Bangalore University. He has 1-year of experience in the banking sector.
Show More>

Edited by:

Tony Thomas