The Story Behind How Serena Williams’ Sister Was Brutally Murdered and How She Dealt With It

Published 01/25/2023, 11:05 AM EST

Even after having everything in the world, this one nightmare scared Serena Williams the most. Back in 2003, the 23-time Grand Slam champion lost her sister to a tragic incident. The eldest half-sister of Serena and Venus Williams, Yetunde Price, lost her life to gun violence in the city of Compton.

The incident that took place in 2003 broke the Williams family. The entire Williams family went through a very hard time fighting to bring justice to Price and punish the perpetrators.

Serena Williams’ half-sister’s tragic death

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Price was shot dead while returning home with her fiancé in an SUV in 2003. While her fiancé was behind the wheel as they were crossing the notorious violent area of Compton, she was shot from the back. Although they managed to take her to a hospital, she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The most shocking thing about the incident was that Price was shot about a mile and a half away from the tennis court where the iconic tennis sisters learned to play the sport that eventually made them the stars that they are now. It took a lot of time for the family to recover from the tragic incident.

The humongous loss traumatized the Williams sister, especially Serena Williams herself.

Price was very close to Serena. Moreover, she was also her manager who was in charge of off-court sponsorships and arrangements.

Serena Williams was traumatized by her half-sister’s death

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By that time, the former world number one was a well-known tennis player and a popular face. When the 23-time Grand Slam champion heard about her half sister’s sudden death, she was in Toronto filming for a cable series called Street Time. And her elder sister, Venus Williams, flew back home just to be with their parents who were grieving the saddening loss. However, Serena was so shattered by the incident that she didn’t talk much about it afterwards.

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And after years of waiting, when Williams finally opened up, she admitted that she didn’t take her sister’s death well, and battled depression after that.

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According to the tennis legend, “It was a real dark time for me. I went through depression. I never even talked about it to my mom. Nobody knew that I was in therapy but I was. I was so close to my sister”.

Losing someone close to you is always difficult. It must have ben very hard for the Williams family to cope with the loss.

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Written by:

Pratishtha Prakash is a Tennis writer at EssentiallySports. She has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media and Journalism from MIT ADT University, Pune. In the past, she has interned at the sports desk of The Hitavada, a regional English daily newspaper.

Edited by:

Arijit Saha

The Story Behind How Serena Williams’ Sister Was Brutally Murdered and How She Dealt With It

Serena Williams’ half-sister’s tragic death

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Serena Williams was traumatized by her half-sister’s death