From the sun-drenched courts of Compton, California, to the grand stages of tennis, Serena Williams’ journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. Yet behind the thunderous serves, championship trophies, and record-breaking achievements lies a story shaped by ambition, sacrifice, and an enduring family dream. In a recent reflection, Williams opened up about the powerful role her father, Richard Williams, played in shaping not only her tennis career but also the very trajectory of her life.

For Richard, the plan was pretty simple: “To bring two children out of the ghetto to the forefront of a white-dominated game.” Hence, he “brainwashed” them to be no. 1 right from a very young age. Excuses were “illegal” in the Williams family, and despite all the hurdles they faced, Richard Williams never really gave up on living the dreams through his daughters’ eyes. Do you know there was a time when he even had to fight with gang members for his daughters’ training? So, struggles were plenty in the early days of Serena and Venus Williams’ playing careers.

Serena Williams will receive the Princess of Asturias Sports Award for her extraordinary record and commitment to equality. But before receiving the award, Williams shed light on the crucial role of her father in building her illustrious career. She revealed how chasing the dream brought her both happiness and sadness. In an interview with ABC Sports, Williams said, “He’s the main reason my sister and I played tennis. It was his idea; he wanted us to have a better life for ourselves than he had. And we did, we achieved it. We worked very hard, we listened to what he and our mother told us.” Further sharing thoughts about her journey, the 23-time Grand Slam winner said, “My career has been a journey and a dream that has taken me far and wide. I’ve been to every corner of the world thanks to tennis. It’s brought me great joy many times, and also great sadness on occasion—that happens with every sport.”

Tennis, for Serena, has been both a gift and a challenge. Discipline, resilience, and an unyielding drive to succeed have been the hallmarks of her career. “Tennis has taught me discipline; it’s taught me to strive. It’s given me so much… I’m still benefiting from tennis. And all of this started with my father’s prompting,” she added.

Talking about their tennis journey and the discipline that both Venus and Serena Williams maintained right from a very young age, their childhood coach, Rick Macci, once revealed that Serena would practice at 5 am some mornings in the pitch dark with her father’s car lights shining behind her, and her father used to throw her challenges with a flashlight blinking on and off in her eyes. According to Serena, Richard Williams was way ahead of his time when it came to putting up the best for his daughters.

In 2021, while speaking on this topic in an interview with GQ, Williams said, “You see, when someone is different—when they don’t act or look how a person assumed they would—the first reaction is often fear. They think, How do we break them? My dad anticipated that, but he would not allow himself or his family to be broken.”

Richard Williams’ ambitious vision was never just about winning trophies—it was about building a life, shaping character, and creating opportunities. Serena Williams and her elder sister not only met those expectations but redefined the very standards of excellence in women’s tennis. But what else did Rick Macci reveal about Richard’s unique training methods, and how impactful does Venus Williams think her father’s role has been on her career, too?

Just like Serena Williams, Venus highlights how Richard Williams introduced them to the sport

Richard Williams had never advised his daughters to limit themselves to only tennis. Speaking more on this in 2022 during an interview, Serena Williams revealed, “He’s always like, ‘Take your time. You’ll be okay. Don’t play,'” Williams added. “My dad always told us to plan ahead. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. We never planned to just only play tennis and just only be tennis players. We planned to do more.” Just like this, his helping hand for his daughters wasn’t just restricted to teaching tennis. He also used to give valuable financial advice to his daughters.

He was always there to give them business advice and help them choose the right and authentic partnerships off the court. According to Venus Williams, “People didn’t understand him, but I think that it didn’t take long for people to realize that this is a guy who’s for his family, for his daughters, ride or die, no matter what.” In an interview with Kaphar on CULTURED, the elder sister spoke about the vital role that their father had played in the early days of their careers. 

So, when she was asked where she had learned tennis initially, her reply was, “That person for me was definitely my dad. He created his way of how he thought tennis should be played. For example, we were not allowed to play defense. It didn’t matter if we got to this shot that normally someone would play a defensive shot on. You couldn’t hurt us. We would just play offense no matter what. He really changed the game, and we were his students in that sense.”

That orthodox philosophy of Richard Williams shaped two champions who would eventually dominate women’s tennis for decades. Richard Williams was more than a tennis parent. He was a visionary who understood that greatness doesn’t come from perfect technique but from unshakable belief and character.

Revealing some of his unusual ways of teaching tennis, Rick Macci once said how Richard used to show his daughters the video of a cheetah and complained that both of them were slow. He always used to push his kids hard, throwing challenges and yelling at them, but every day, it always ended with a lot of hugs and kisses. 

Not only that, Macci also revealed that Richard Williams also introduced boxing to both Venus and Serena Williams in order to make them rougher, tougher, and meaner. When they used to hit the ball hard, he would insist they hit it harder. Such was the intensity in their training right from a very young age.

So, his approach towards the game was always out of the book, and he always tried to protect her daughters from the outside tennis world. He wanted them to have fun while chasing their dreams. Both these Williams sisters now remind everyone that behind every champion’s name, there’s often a dreamer who saw it all before the world did. Richard Williams—a living legend!