![]() ![]() This was after two surgeries on her foot and toe. Then, hope grew, but just as Serena started to recover, she got an infection in her stomach and had to have a drain tube put in to help her heal. I didn’t know what to think or what to do. ![]() She had blood clots in her heart that could be fatal. The doctors said they could not rule that possibility out. It’s the only one still played on grass, the game’s first surface, the reason it was originally called “lawn tennis.” Yet, with the terrible illnesses and foot problems Serena suffered in the past year, I never dreamed I’d be watching her compete here for the championship-in fact I feared I might never see her play again.ĭuring those dark days of her illness, there was actually a time I feared Serena was going to die. It is the grandest of the four Grand Slams-including the French Open, the Australian Open, and the U.S. Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, first played in 1877. Yet, on that rainy Saturday morning in August 2012, anxiously looking down from our family box while Serena played her finals match on center court, I couldn’t help thinking that we almost didn’t make it here at all. It’s the tennis tournament where my daughters, Venus and Serena, have won the Ladies’ Singles Championship ten years out of the past twelve. Black and White is the extraordinary story of that journey and the indomitable spirit that made it all possible. There is a closeness because of what we’ve been through together, and a respect.”Ī self-made man, Williams has walked a long, hard, exciting, and ultimately rewarding road during his life, surmounting many challenges to raise a loving family and two of the greatest tennis players who ever lived. “I still feel really close to my father,” says Serena. He passed the same qualities on to his daughters, who grew up loving their father and valuing the lessons he taught them. From the beginning of his life, Richard’s mother taught him to live by the principles of courage, confidence, commitment, faith, and love. #ROCHARD WILLIAMS PROFESSIONAL#Venus is also the tennis player, including men, with the most Olympic medals won, five.The fascinating, “upfront and unapologetic” ( Kirkus Reviews) memoir of Richard Williams, a businessman, tennis coach, subject of the major motion picture King Richard, and father to two of the greatest athletes and professional tennis champions of all time-Venus and Serena Williams.īorn into poverty in Shreveport, Louisiana in the 1940s, Richard Williams was blessed by a strong, caring mother who remained his lifelong hero, just as he became a hero to Venus and Serena. The results are not lacking even at the Olympics: they have won a total of four gold medals each, three of which together in the women's doubles and one each in singles. Pairing up in women's doubles tournaments, the Williams sisters won 14 Grand Slam events and on one occasion they won 4 consecutively, but not in the same calendar year. Both are part of the small group of tennis players who have won more titles than ever. In more than twenty years, the Williams sisters have won 121 singles tournaments, 4 mixed doubles tournaments and occupied a total of more than 300 weeks at number one singles and eight weeks in the doubles rankings.Īfter the 2002 French Open, Venus and Serena were number one and number two in the singles rankings, respectively. By keeping your mouth shut, other things open up for the better!" The Williams' sisters Simple answer is that the ability to keep your mouth shut is sometimes the ultimate clubhouse leader. Serena and Venus were raised by Macci and their father, becoming the greatest athletes of USA sports.įilm King Richard, starring Academy Awards winner Will Smith, showed how Richard made his daughters practice with different trainers for training, but basically Richard himself did what he wanted for training and physical fortification, technical and psychological of his two daughters Rick Macci trained both Serena and Venus at his academy in Florida, and despite some disagreements over training methods between him and the father of the two American stars, Macci and Richard Williams were two very good friends, as the film also points out.Īs reported by Essentially Sport, Rick Macci revealed how his friendship with someone with a strong temper like Richard Williams has remained steadfast throughout the years, writing on Twitter: "Everyone asks me how I endured Richard Williams for four years. ![]() Richard Williams and Rick Macci had a decisive role in the rise and career of Serena Williams and her sister Venus Williams. ![]()
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