Serena Williams: Venus Williams reveals tennis legend was told she 'wouldn’t be great'

Tennis star Venus Williams has revealed that her sister Serena Williams was told she “wouldn’t be great”.

The two sisters sat down for an in-depth interview with Harper’s Bazaar, discussing their career and the release of King Richard, a film which tells the story of the Williams sisters and their father.

Aged 15 months older than her sister, Venus was the first to make a name for herself on the WTA Tour. This led to the media presuming that Serena would be a weaker player.

“Usually in one family there’s one good player and then the other one is not that great,” Venus explained. “And I think people told Serena she wouldn’t be great.

“The fearlessness with which she approached the game was something I’ve always really admired. She doesn’t accept second. She explicitly told me herself that she plays for first place.”

King Richard follows the life of Serena and Venus’ father Richard as he aspires to turn his daughters into professional tennis players.

Serena credited her father for her and her sisters longevity in tennis – at 40-years-old and 41-years-old respectively, neither player has retired from the sport yet.

Venus and Serena are basking in their freedom—a privilege that their parents fought hard for them to have.“From such a young age, all we’ve done is work. For Serena and I to explore that freedom is surreal,” says #VenusWilliams.This is Venus and Serena on their own terms. pic.twitter.com/L9eun6wmAB

“A lot of people get this different story of sports fathers—especially tennis fathers, who are really overbearing,” she said. “And that wasn’t necessarily my dad.

“Everyone’s like, ‘Well, how do you play tennis for so long?’ It’s because we weren’t raised in an environment where it was something that we abhorred.”

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