Serena Williams is the most decorated WTA player of all time with plenty of skills and knowledge to teach the next generation of tennis stars, but apparently, coaching is not one of her aspirations.
Williams is a global tennis superstar and icon and she has received notable recognition for her unrivalled success in women's tennis over the last two decades. During her career, which began with turning pro in 1995, the American great has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and 14 in the women's doubles category.
Currently, Williams continues to compete on the WTA Tour, with another appearance at Wimbledon potentially coming up this summer, but such acclaim was just a pipedream for a young Serena, who, along with her sister Venus Williams, were coached by their father Richard. The sisters' introduction into tennis was followed by development under Rick Macci and the famous coach moulded the Williams sisters into the dominant players of the WTA Tour during the 1990s and 2010s.
However, Serena's dedication to succeed is not something she wishes to pass on to her daughter and the 40-year-old shared on the Ellen DeGeneres show her unwillingness to teach Olimpia. When speaking to DeGeneres, Serena said she never wanted to push her daughter into tennis but naturally, Olympia seeing her mother handling racquets daily got interested in the sport.
The discussion led to a humourous exchange between the pair on the talk show. During the interview, Serena stated that Olimpia, aged four, was more interested in other childhood games rather than picking up the tennis racket.
"Her ambition is playing princess games.”
While Serena admitted that Olimpia is getting used to playing with a tennis racket, the 23-time Grand Slam winner clearly stated that she had no interest in personally coaching her daughter. The admission was perhaps unusual considering Williams' humble tennis tuition, led by her father Richard, who never played the sport competitively himself.
Moreover, DeGeneres continued with the questioning on Olimpia's introduction to tennis and revealed that the six-year-old was taking tennis classes. However, Serena was quick to jovially explain that coaching is not something in her plans as she lacks one key skill to succeed in this demanding career - patience.
"You enrolled her in tennis classes with a coach but you did not tell the coach that you were the mother?”
“I don’t have the patience to teach tennis. It drives me nuts.”