Tennis stars, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have a lot in common. From having spectacular tennis careers to taking a stand for women on and off the tennis court, and having a dedicated father standing behind them while they followed their tennis dream.

Yes, both of their fathers were similar in the way they supported their daughters.

Yuri Sharapov, the father of the Russian tennis player, was a tennis coach who taught his daughter to play tennis from a very young age. Similarly, King Richard taught his daughters how to play tennis and was a coach to them for the majority of their tennis career.

Maria Sharapova once detailed how Serena Williams’ father is similar to her father

Sharapova, in her book Unstoppable: My Life So Far, shared an incident when the Williams sisters visited Nick Bollettieri along with her father.

And while everybody in the tennis academy was curious to watch the iconic duo play, on the other hand, there was Sharapova, who was quite young and did not want to be a part of that audience.

The five-time Grand Slam champion just didn’t want to see them practice. Additionally, she also didn’t want to cheer for them from amongst the crowd who gathered to see them.

All Sharapova wanted to do was to beat the 23-time Grand slam champion.

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In that book, she described how she had an argument with her father over not watching the iconic sisters practice.

She said, “My father and I argued and argued about it. He said I was letting pride get in my way.” However, the tennis star didn’t change her decision.

Her father then came up with a unique idea to ensure that her daughter watches the Williams sisters play.

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She explained how she watched the Williams sisters from a knothole in a shed while they were practicing, all alone. And when she watched them, there was something that caught her attention.

She added, “They began hitting, easy at first, then with terrific pace. Their father—a tennis father, a parental nut, the will behind the operation. Really not all that different from my own father–leaned against the fence, calling out instructions and orders.” 

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And at that time, seeing King Richard, she figured out that the former American tennis coach was not much different from the other tennis fathers.

The encouragement of their fathers left a very strong impact on the two tennis players as they won many accolades for their performances on the tennis court . It is safe to say that their fathers were the driving force behind their success.