You might call Richard Williams a championship father because the achievements of his daughters Venus and Serena would make any parent proud.
The Williams sisters have left an indelible mark on the tennis world. Both have achieved World No. 1 rankings, earning a total of 25 Grand Slam Singles titles and eight Olympic gold medals between them. Venus and Serena have also gone head-to-head as rivals in eight Grand Slam singles finals, but remain extremely close. Two sisters, two hall of fame careers, and they’re still in their early 30s.
It’s been well documented that Richard Williams began training his progenies when they were four years old. But Williams told CTV’s Canada AM on Friday, that his grand plan for rearing would-be world champions began before their births, when he drafted a 78-page manifesto outlining how his daughters would reach the top of the tennis world.
“Before they were born, a lot people used to think I was crazy because I used to walk around with a sign, ‘number 1 girls in the world’ --- so my expectations of my girls grew and grew,’’ he said.
Williams says everything he learned about personal success and perseverance came from his mother Julia Mae Williams, a cotton worker who was beaten when she was eight months pregnant, and nearly died giving birth to him.
“She gave me the greatest thing you can give a human being --- she taught me what you would expect from yourself --- I’ve learnt that when you expect a lot from yourself, you tend to expect a hell of a lot from other people,” he said.
Williams acknowledged that he raised the family in Compton, California as part of his plan to develop a ‘fighter’s mentality’ in his daughters, and again credits his mother for teaching him three keys to life.
‘You got to be rough, you’ve got to be tough and you’ve got to be strong,’ he said.
Williams, an entrepreneur who paid for Venus and Serena’s tennis development out of his own pocket, believes that success on the court requires a well-rounded physical and mental training schedule.
“Training started early for my kids, but it wasn’t only on the tennis courts. I used to take Venus and Serena to work with me so they could learn the importance of planning, responsibility, and a strong work ethic, even at their early age,” Richard Williams writes in his memoirs.
The importance of completing a proper education is something Williams instilled in both his daughters. “Venus changed tennis 1,000 per cent --- but Venus is 34 and she’s still studying in college,” he said.
Williams, 70, describes his life and ambitions in his memoirs ‘Black and White: The Way I See It’ which describes his early life story of poverty, racism and violence in Shreveport, Louisiana, in the 1940s.
