During her childhood, Serena Williams worked hard, day in and day out, to strive for a successful tennis career. Her father, Richard Williams, used to take her and her elder sister, Venus Williams, to the public tennis courts to train.

Later, Rick Macci became their first professional coach. Macci struck a healthy relationship with Richard and the two ensured that the Williams sisters got adequate training. Recently, Macci opened up about why he became the Williams sisters’ coach.

Rick Macci highlights Serena Williams’ winning mentality

During an interview, the interviewer asked Macci whether the people who limit kids are often the adults. Responding to this question, Macci said, “You’re spot on, you know with this. I try to teach everybody to be the ultimate competitor, you know, run for every ball and you know, I go back to the Richard Williams. See if you come up, he goes, Rick, I want VW (Venus Williams) to play someone today who doesn’t like her, who cheats okay, and I want to use old balls so she has to bend and dig them out.”

Further, he added, “I mean here’s a guy who got it because he’s from the other side of the track, okay and you know so where the other parents, they want you know, they freak out if there’s a bad call and you know, even when kids toss the ball up, I might yell, hey, you know, I distract them, you know, I do all this stuff and the parents, then I have to tell them sometimes this is the real world.”

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Giving an example of the Williams sisters, Macci said, “You’re going to the orange pool and there’s going to be you know 20 kids from China rooting for this girl and you’re there with your kid and they’re clapping on double faults or whatever and there’s just, you got to be rough and tough and that’s what I saw in Venus and Serena. Serena was like a little pit bull and they were so competitive. I saw this on the inside that’s why I took the chance and bankrolled it.”

Coco Gauff, grateful to have played against the Williams sisters

Recently, during an interview at the French Open, the American tennis sensation expressed her delight at playing against Serena and Venus. Coco grew up watching the Williams sisters play and felt grateful for having received an opportunity to play against them.

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While Gauff is yet to play a competitive match against Serena on the WTA tour, the two have practiced together on a number of occasions. Meanwhile, Gauff has won both her matches against Venus.