Serena Williams and Venus Williams have been at the top of women's tennis for a long time. Their careers have been filled with trophies and successes, and most look back with nostalgia on their beginnings in the late 1990s. Serena Williams decided to put an end to her career three years ago, while her sister has continued playing tennis, despite being 45 years old.
Becoming a star involves a lot of training and spending time on the tennis courts, and the two looked back on their childhood and some of the difficult moments during an episode of the Stockton Street podcast.
Serena Williams once felt so averse to training that she decided to cut the strings on her rackets. However, after seeing her father's reaction, she never resorted to such methods again.
“Remember, I used to cut the strings in the rackets because I didn’t want to practice,” she said, as quoted by Tennis Gazette.
“I remember going to practice, we drove all this way, it was way far, Anaheim or something, and I was bad.
I took these scissors and I cut the racket, we got there, and dad pulled out the rackets, and all the rackets’ strings were broken.
I saw his face, and his face was heartbroken; he just looked so sad. I felt so bad, I never did it again.”
Serena believes that at some points they worked too much and admits that she hated training. However, looking from this perspective, he understands why they trained and how important every second spent on the field was.
Today, the popular tennis player shares the same advice to her daughter, wanting her to become world class. However, as a girl she didn't always understand some things, so now she understands that her daughter Olympia has similar thoughts.
“Absolutely, I felt like it was too much, I felt like it was unnecessary,” said Serena Williams.
“I hated practice, I really did.
But, looking back, we needed every second of that. In order to be the best, you have to put in the time, and you have to be willing to work harder than anyone else. I think those practices made me want to practice in the future. Once I became my own professional, I never skipped practice.
I always try to tell Olympia [her daughter], you don’t understand the benefits now, it sucks today, but tomorrow, you’re going to be so happy that you did it."
Venus Williams' views
On the other hand, her sister, Venus Williams, had a slightly different view. She admitted that she never thought too much about training and whether they were training too much, because she was focused on the present moment and did what she was told. However, she later said that they probably trained much more than necessary, but that training did not bother her because she knew that she would become a champion.
Their main source of motivation was also their father, who sent them a clear message: “You will become world number 1 and 2.”
This best shows how important parents can be for children, but on the other hand, sometimes it is important to have a measure and let children be children. Either way, the two of them have made a great career and really laid the foundation for the future of this sport.
