‘He Was More About Life Lessons’: Rick Macci Details an Untold ‘King Richard’ Story Featuring Venus and Serena Williams

Serena Williams and Venus Williams are two of the most successful players in the history of the sport. A major part in their incredible success was played by their father Richard Williams and coach Rick Macci, who put in place the solid foundations on which they built their careers. 

Today, star coach Rick Macci posted a video on his YouTube channel. In the video, Rick described one of the incidents in which Richard Williams hired a boy to pick the balls during Serena and Venus’ training sessions. Through the story, Macci highlighted the kind of person Richard Williams is. 

The video was another addition to the series of videos titled ‘King Richard Stories Extended.’

“One of the many reasons I love Richard Williams”: Rick Macci

Rick Macci was asked to tell one of the many stories that weren’t told in the movie King Richard. To answer this, Rick decided to tell the “hiring story”.

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He started explaining how Richard used to get irritated seeing balls scattered all over the court. Serena and Venus Williams used to hit shopping carts full of balls every single day.

He said, “The girls hit tens of thousands of balls a day. That’s a lot of balls to be picked up. Even though Venus and Serena would pick up balls and Richard, too. Richard just said, he was kind of throwing a hint out there, we need someone to pick up the balls.”

He further added, “Out of nowhere, one day, there’s some guy on the court picking up tennis balls. I’m saying ‘Who’s this guy?’. He (Richard) goes, ‘You just hired him. You are paying him $10 an hour’.”

Macci then mentioned where Richard went to find someone to pick up the balls.

“He went to a mental health facility. This just shows the heart of this guy… He, more or less, was giving someone an opportunity to get outside, be around a different environment, and maybe influence another child’s life.”

Rick ended his story by saying, “One of the many reasons I love Richard Williams is because he was more about life lessons than tennis lessons, and that always stuck with me.”

Serena Williams vs Venus Williams

Serena Williams and Venus Williams are two of the most celebrated names of the sport. However, the two have also been one of the greatest on-court rivals. The two have played against each other 31 times in their careers spanning over two decades. Out of these 31 matches, 16 have been in the Grand Slams. 

Even though both the sisters have great records against other players, it is Serena who leads the h2h 19-12 between the two sisters. 

The Williams sisters last faced other at the WTA 250 Top Seed Open in Lexington, US. Serena stunned her sister in three sets.