Venus and Serena Williams changed the game of tennis, and this is a brief breakdown of their story.
After watching the movie, King Richard, a true story based on the lives of Venus and Serena Williams. I really learned a lot about the sisters, and to this day, it is still one of my favorite movies. The movie follows the story of Richard Williams and how he coached his two daughters, Venus and Serena, to become tennis champions. The movie is very interesting and shows us how the girls grew up and became the best players in the game.
From the beginning, the girls were very talented in the sport of tennis; they were both coached by their father on the public tennis courts in California. He even had a 78-page plan for their success in life and tennis. But when they got older, they hired a personal coach, Paul Cohen, who was great, except for one thing. He would only coach Venus. Venus decides to get coached by Paul and goes home to tell Serena about all she has learned every day.
Later on, Venus and Serena play at a junior tournament, and even though they both are extremely good at tennis, they still get looked down upon because of the color of their skin. Despite this, they get asked to become a part of the junior team to compete with some of the best kids in the country. But Richard turns to offer down and fires Paul because he thinks that the girls can do better than 100K a year.
Of course, Richard was right. They are worth a lot more than 100K. They moved to Florida and continued to advance their tennis game. Soon after, Venus turns pro and becomes one of the best tennis players in the world. Since the age of 15, she has won 49 WTA tour singles titles, seven grand slams, 22 doubles titles, 14 majors, three Olympic gold medals, and was the first African American woman to rank number one in the world. She will go down as one of the greatest players of tennis.
Along with her sister, Serena is also very accomplished. She has won 73 WTA tour singles championships, 23 grand slam titles, which is the most in the open era, four Olympic gold medals, and was ranked number one for 319 weeks with 5-year end finishes as number one.
Although Serena is officially retired, Venus still continues to play the sport of tennis at the age of 44 and has said that she just can’t put down the racket yet. Both of the sisters are very accomplished and have strived to inspire young girls and have shown them that they can do anything. They are also huge inspirations to the African American community and have shown how they can excel despite competing in a predominantly white sport. Their success has opened many doors for future generations of African American athletes and will continue to do so. I find their story extremely inspirational and can’t wait to see what they continue to accomplish.