Richard Williams ensured his daughters Venus and Serena Williams kept faith in their strengths. This eventually led them to become two of the greatest WTA players ever. However, being their coach, he also evaluated their rivals. A lot of them could not be perceived positively on his radar, including one of the most renowned players, Maria Sharapova. But there was one fierce rival of his younger daughter, Serena Williams, that he favored.

It was none other than Belgian former world no. 1 Justine Henin. A fierce rival on the court, she always made Serena Williams push herself to be at her best. Apart from that, her personal struggles made Richard Williams have a soft corner for her.

How did Justine Henin secure respect in the heart of Venus and Serena Williams’ father?

The Belgian player made a name for herself after she clinched her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open in 2003. After that, she would go on to clinch six more, accumulating a record seven Grand Slam titles. Recently, Henin talked about the various aspects of her career in an in-depth interview.

During her interview with Eurosport, she opened up about her archrival’s father. She said, “I think that her father, in a way, also had a form of admiration and respect for the fact that I never gave up.” She further stated, “I had made quite a few sacrifices in my life, sometimes which seemed quite hard. Particularly in terms of my family and he said that, in the end, I didn’t let much get in my way. ”

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Throughout her glorious career, she came across the 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams 14 times. Serena Williams got the better of her most of the times as she won eight matches against Henin.

However, given that it was Williams’ peak years, going against her shows Henin’s champion mentality. Henin happily gushed, “On my part, I found it amusing, in a way, to tell myself that I was “the little minx who comes to bug her.”

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It made even the super-involved father and coach of Serena Williams have respect for her. However, yet another rival of Williams, Maria Sharapova, could never gain that spot with Richard Williams.

Richard Williams once completely sidelined Maria Sharapova as a threat to Williams 

Maria Sharapova always put up a good fight against Serena Williams. However, even then, Richard Williams never thought she could be a threat to his daughter.

During the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, an interviewer talked about the plausible threat of Maria Sharapova to Serena Williams’ title chances. However, Richard Williams brushed it off. He proudly stated that he could not even remember the last time Sharapova beat Serena. 

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And Richard did have a valid reason to feel that way. Despite being mentioned as one of the fiercest rivalries in women’s tennis, Serena Williams dominated her Russian rival during their on-court clashes. She won an astonishing 20 times in the 22 matches she has played against Maria Sharapova. What is your favorite Serena-Sharapova moment? Let us know in the comments below.