Serena Williams, while growing up, took guidance from only a few coaches. One was her father, Richard Williams, a constant throughout her teenage days, and the other was Rick Macci. Macci and Williams trained her to become the legend she is today.

Further, Macci, like Williams’ father, has always been supportive of her. He always has backed Williams on her good and bad days. Recently, after seeing her fail in the first round of the Wimbledon championship. The 40-year-old’s former coach remembered how determined her younger self used to be.

Rick Macci about young Serena Williams

The American tennis ace coach took on social media to share one of his core memories of Serena Williams. And wrote, “Serena Williams as a kid tried so hard to get the ball. Would fall down, get back up like a jackrabbit, and hit a winner.”

Thereafter he added, “GOAT MATERIAL AS A KID!” Williams turned pro in the year 1994 and claimed the ranking of World No.1 in 2002, and ended the year with two grand Slam trophies under her name.

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Since that year, she has collected 21 more Grand Slam titles by conquering hard, grass, and clay surfaces. Further, Williams has claimed the crown of World No.1 five times and has held the raking for a record 319 weeks up till now.

Williams’ recent endeavor

Serena Williams made a comeback by fighting the rumors of her retirement in the grass swing. She, with the Grand Slam of grass in focus, entered the doubles of Eastbourne International. Williams partnered with the current World No.2 and Madrid Open reigning champion Ons Jabeur for the tournament.

Though the duo looked strong, they couldn’t achieve much because of Jabeur’s unfortunate knee injury. Even so, fans were optimistic about Williams’ run in Wimbledon as she performed well in the WTA 500 event. However, Williams failed to live up to the expectations of her fans by incurring a first-round exit against the French tennis professional Harmony Tan.

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The former World No.1, after losing the first set 5-7, regained her grip on the match in the second set. She took Tan down for almost a beagle, as the set ended with a score of 6-1. Thereafter, Tan also geared up, and the match became more intense. But in the end, the match favored the French young blood and Williams faced a 6 (7)- 7 (10) defeat.