Out of the Shadows: A Biographical History of African American Athletes

19. “Ghetto Cinderellas”: Venus and Serena Williams and the Discourse of Racism

Venus and Serena Williams celebrating a victory in a doubles match at Wimbledon in 2003. (Getty Images) 3WIGGINS_pages_263-372.qxd 9/12/06 12:03 PM Page 352 19R . P I E R R E R O D G E R S A N D E L L E N B . D R O G I N R O D G E R S Communication scholar James Andrews notes that “rhetoric grows out of events that a speaker wants us to see as important.” Further, “historical and political events and trends can force certain issues into our consciousness ; the situation can make it imperative that we somehow come to grips with issues.”1 Chronicling the rise of African American tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams might well be an exercise in mythbuilding : “By now, the unlikely story of the Williams family has been repeated so often that it has the ring of an urban legend—which, one might argue, it essentially is.”2 Much has been made of the Williams sisters’ upbringing in Compton, an urban area in southern California notorious for its crime and gang activity.3 In fact, part of the urban legend regarding their formative years is that Venus and Serena had “to dodge bullets while practicing on the debris-strewn courts” of Compton.4 But this much is known about the sisters: they rose from relative obscurity to the heights of the tennis world.5 Dubbed “ghetto Cinderellas”6 by their outspoken father and coach, Richard, Venus and Serena currently hold lifetime career singles rankings of 4 and 16, respectively, by the Sony Ericsson Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).7 The fourth and fifth daughters of Richard Williams and Oracene Price, Venus Ebony Starr Williams was born on June 17, 1980, in Lynwood, California; sister Serena was born fifteen months later on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan. Both Venus and Serena were initially home-schooled, raised as devout Jehovah’s Witnesses (in their “Ghetto Cinderellas” Venus and Serena Williams and the Discourse of Racism 3WIGGINS_pages_263-372.qxd 9/12/06 12:03 PM Page 353 mother’s faith), and coached early and intensely by their father. These tennis prodigies (and best friends) displayed extraordinary talent at a very young age, each playing in their first tournament at four years old. In 1991, the family moved to Florida so that Venus (and subsequently Serena) could take advantage of tennis training camp opportunities. While neither sister competed in junior tournaments as a teenager, each began professional play in the WTA at age fourteen. The sisters have accomplished a great deal in their relatively short history. Venus was the first unseeded player to reach the finals at the U.S. Open.8 Three years later, in 2000, “her first win in a Grand Slam event . . . occurred when she became the first African American since Althea Gibson to win the AllEngland Ladies’ Singles Championship at Wimbledon.”9 Younger sister Serena was actually the first Williams sister to win a Grand Slam event, the 1999 U.S. Open. Ironically, she defeated Venus en route to the title— besting Martina Hingis for the trophy.10 Together, the sisters combined for doubles titles at Wimbledon in 1999 and at the U.S. Open in 2000. They also won Olympic gold that year in doubles.11 Venus and Serena have fifty-eight WTA singles titles between them and eleven doubles championships. Both have similarly been ranked number one in careerhigh singles—Venus on February 25, 2002, and Serena on July 8, 2002.12 When their father predicted such lofty heights for his daughters at ages ten and nine, respectively, he was met with skepticism. As Jon Wertheim recalls: [Richard Williams] announced that, good as Venus was, she wasn’t even going to be the best player in the family. His younger daughter Serena had the build of an Olympic swimmer and she was every bit as athletic as Venus. Plus, he said gleefully, she was meaner. One day soon, Richard predicted, his daughters would rally the top ranking back and forth and play each other in Grand Slam finals. The tennis world laughed. This wasn’t a tennis father from hell. This was a tennis father from outer space. . . . A few years later, Richard Williams was vindicated. Venus and Serena proved to be as good as advertised.13 Not only are the sisters similar in their physical makeup—Venus at six...