Serena Williams’ ex-coach recollects icon’s father’s reply to Michael Jordan declare

The former coach of Venus and Serena Williams believed that the pair had been destined for greatness in tennis from the very begin. But that optimism was comparatively conservative in comparison with that of the sisters’ father.

With an outstanding 30 Grand Slam titles between them, the Michigan-born siblings are essentially the most well-known sisters within the historical past of tennis, with the youthful Serena extensively thought of to be one of many biggest gamers of all time.

They had been coached for almost all of their careers by their father Richard Williams, however earlier than he took on that accountability full-time, he entrusted the duty to famend tennis coach Rick Macci.

The celebrated sports activities coach has a vastly profitable observe report, having coached the likes of Andy Roddick, Jennifer Capriati and Maria Sharapova. But when he took on the job of taking care of the Williams sisters in 1991 once they had been simply 10 and 9 years outdated, he knew that he had one thing particular in entrance of him and had nice hopes for the older Venus specifically, one thing he was shortly corrected on by the women’ father.

Speaking to OLBG, Macci stated: “I started to think early on- these two girls they’re going to be 6ft and 5ft 11in tall. They’re going to seriously develop.

“I knew I could help to develop the technical aspects. I told Richard Williams, ‘You’ve got the next female Michael Jordan on your hands’, he put his arm around me and said, ‘No, I’ve got the next two’.

“This is what people don’t understand, even though Serena at that time wasn’t quite as developed as the older Venus, she knew where the ball was going before you even hit it to her. She was always going to develop into an amazing athlete- she was strong, fast, nimble and could even do the splits. The Williams’ parents hit the genetic jackpot with Venus and Serena.

“Even when we first played tag as a warm-up one day, Serena was so competitive. When she was ‘it’, she played with a closed fist! I had to tell her, ‘No, you’ve got to play with an open hand!’. She was brutal, and when I tell her these stories now that she’s older and a mother herself, she’s just crying with laughter.

“When Serena lost games, she worked even harder. She had that elite mindset from a young age. She’s the best competitor of all time and one of the greatest female athletes I’ve ever seen.”

Although Venus was the primary to interrupt via as successful in girls’s tennis she was quickly overtaken by her youthful sister. Serena would win a report 23 Grand Slam Women’s titles, whereas Venus claimed seven, together with 5 Wimbledon titles.