Serena Williams and Venus Williams Have Sage Advice for Aspiring Tennis Players
Unless you’ve been not paying attention to tennis for the last 20 years or living under a rock, you’ve likely heard of Venus and Serena Williams. The two sisters have a story right out of a Hollywood movie: siblings who through hard work and dedication made it to the top of their profession. Anyone hearing their story would likely be inspired. But what would the two tell aspiring players on how to make it in tennis? They recently shared what they’d tell them, and it was great advice.
Who are Serena and Venus Williams?
Serena and Venus are two of the top women’s tennis players in this current era. While they are both past the most dominant phases of their respective careers, they still have a wealth of accomplishments to fall back on. The two have always approached the game with fiery competitiveness.
The Williams’ sisters grew up in Compton, a suburb of Los Angeles, California. Their father, Richard Williams, famously trained them from an incredibly young age to play tennis. His dedication and belief in his children paid off. In the late 90s and throughout the 2000s, the two have been two of the most successful women’s tennis players in the game.
They’ve also been very successful outside tennis, with numerous endorsements and business ventures to each of their names.
Career highlights of Serena and Venus Williams
The Williams sisters have amassed some spectacularly impressive career highs. Serena has won 23 Grand Slam tournaments. Venus has won seven Grand Slam events with 49 career overall tournament victories.
What might even be more impressive than their singles dominance, however, is their run as doubles partners. According to EssentiallySports.com, since 1997, the two have combined for 22 doubles victories with 14 of them being Grand Slam events. They have also combined for three Olympic gold medals.
That kind of success means any tennis player should want to hear what they have to say about how to achieve greatness in tennis.
The jewels of wisdom Serena and Venus Williams had for aspiring tennis players
Naomi Campbell recently interviewed Venus and Serena on YouTube. Aside from covering how the Williams sisters were holding up during their quarantine, the interview touched on many subjects such as their interests inside and outside of tennis as well as their upbringing. Campbell also asked the sisters if they had any advice for young tennis players looking to turn pro one day.
Venus’s first comment was about how to approach the work of being a tennis player. She gave some useful advice on the right mindset to adopt:
“‘Do the work for tennis, and then let it work for you.’ It’s icing on the cake to get to the professional level, it’s not easy to do or easy to maintain, and it’s not impossible.”
Venus added that it’s not just your approach to the game that matters, but also the people you choose to allow around you:
“I would say get everything you can out of sports….Work as hard as you can, surround yourself with people who are positive, smart, wise, build you up, have your best interests at heart, and want to help you get where you need to get to. So, when you do those things, whether you go professional or not, the game will do the work for you. You’ll learn so much.”
Though she’s never exactly been shy, Serena was somewhat at a loss for words, saying that Venus had put it perfectly. She did add a bit of her own advice:
“Mic drop, I couldn’t put it any better…What you do and what you learn, it brings the discipline and the drive to do whatever you want to do. Whether you continue in sport or not, you have the elements to keep going in the world.”
Any tennis player would be crazy not to listen to two of the world’s greatest. While their advice may seem simple, it certainly wasn’t easy for the Williams sisters to do. The fact that they’d share that with the next generation of great women’s tennis players shows how much they care about the future of the game. It’s a great way of giving back to fans of theirs and the sport in general.
