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Venus and Serena Williams: Traversing the Barriers of the Country Club World
- University Press of Mississippi
- Chapter
- Additional Information
72 VENUS AND SERENA WILLIAMS Traversing the Barriers of the Country Club World —EARL SMITH AND ANGELA J. HATTERY INTRODUCTION In a 2009 interview, Richard Williams, father of tennis champions Venus and Serena, was exceedingly candid when asked what his daughters mean to the world of women’s professional tennis: Q: So now, after all the titles and the millions earned, have Venus and Serena exceeded your expectations? A: Venus reached my expectations when she went to Morningside High School in Inglewood, Calif. She made A’s in mathematics, in trigonometry , and set a record that stood for a long time. I pushed education. I wanted them to understand that you can be the greatest athlete in the world, but without the greatest knowledge in the world, you’re going to lose all your money anyway. Q: There’s been a lot of talk—a lot of complaining, in fact—about grunting during matches these days.Were Venus and Serena grunters from way back? A: I don’t know. Q: You don’t remember? A: No, I do not. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. To be honest, I think there’s something wrong with tennis. Q: What do you mean by that? A: In 1884 tennis came to America, and it has been the same, nothing has changed. They want you to sit there and be quiet. Turn your neck this Venus and Serena Williams: Traversing Barriers 73 way, turn it that way, and get a crick in it. Somewhere along the line you have to say,“Let’s have some fun out here.”Who wants to come out here, buy a ticket, and sit still? It doesn’t make sense. Until Venus came along, tennis was dead.Venus brought tennis to life.When Serena came along and added more life, tennis became a very popular sport all over again. Until then, tennis had died and went to hell. I think they need to change tennis because it’s dead.1 Indeed, more than forty years after tennis great Althea Gibson became the first African-American female to win at Wimbledon in 1957—arguably the “Cadillac” of competition on the professional tennis tour—Venus Williams won this coveted event in 2000. In the eleven years beginning with Venus’s win in 2000, either Venus or her younger sister, Serena, has won the Wimbledon women’s single title nine of the eleven years that the tournament was run.2 This feat alone should be enough to seal their legacy in the Tennis Hall of Fame, but it is not going to be that easy. In this chapter we explore the careers, lives, and challenges of two of the most successful female tennis players ever, athletes who just happen to be African Americans in the country club world of professional tennis. By exploring to some extent their biographies, and in particular the circumstances in which they were raised, as well as their journeys to dominance, this chapter will examine the ways in which their reputations were forged, altered, and ultimately sustained. Throughout, we argue that their pathways to dominance in one of the last bastions of whiteness in sport, namely tennis, were paved by their father, Richard. He understood the need to develop their tennis skills as well as strength of character so that they were well prepared not only to win tennis matches but also to weather the virulent racism that would characterize their entire careers. Additionally, we consider the ways in which pioneers such as Althea Gibson and Billie Jean King, among others, were integral figures in the opening of the doors of opportunity through which Venus and Serena weren’t content to merely walk but rather run. STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON Venus and SerenaWilliams,the daughters of Richard and Oracene PriceWilliams (now divorced), were born in Lynwood, California, but would soon move to the city of Compton, California, where they lived and learned from [3.236.217.172] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 16:09 GMT) Earl Smith and Angela J. Hattery 74 their father how to play the game of tennis.3 Much has been made of the tough living conditions in Compton—the California city made famous by the rap group Niggaz Wit Attitude (NWA).4 Edmondson reports the fact that Richard Williams would often take his young daughters to the outdoor public tennis courts of Compton, outfitted with out-of-date steel nets, and let them play while gunfire...