Serena Williams says she was born with the innate to all the time need to win and be the most effective in every thing, whereas her sister Venus Williams did not have that.
Throughout their childhood, the Williams sisters have been coached by Rick Macci. Through the years, the 70-year-old spoke many occasions about how amazed and impressed he was by what he was seeing from the 2 at a really younger age.
Every time he spoke about Serena, he would typically describe her as somebody who was the final word competitor even on the age of 10.
Later, she grew to become a Grand Slam champion at simply 17 after successful the 1999 US Open. That was only the start of an all-time nice profession which resulted in 23 Majors and plenty of different astonishing accomplishments. And the 43-year-old by no means hid her need to attain success and be the most effective.
Whereas she finally fell simply wanting beating Margaret Court docket’s all-time report of 24 Slams, some nonetheless argue that there are legit arguments to contemplate the American tennis icon as the best gamers in tennis historical past.
“I feel it is undoubtedly just a little nurture but additionally one thing that is innate. I used to be born to win. We used to have these expertise present and if I did not win the expertise present, I might go nuts. I might cry, throw a match… It was innate for me to all the time have this drive to be the most effective and to win,” Serena mentioned throughout her look on the New York Instances’ DealBook Summit.
“That half was innate and Venus all the time mentioned that she did not have that half. She realized it… I feel you will get it each methods. I feel it is good that if you do not have one thing, you may nonetheless develop it in a while by engaged on it.”
Serena Williams: Venus would have extra Slams if not for me however I would even be at 30 if not for her
When her profession completed, the youthful of the 2 sisters completed with a 19-12 report of their head-to-head. Of these 31 conferences, eight got here in Grand Slam finals – the 43-year-old was triumphant on six events and twice misplaced.
Now, Venus sits at seven Main titles. Contemplating that the 44-year-old was one of the crucial dominant forces in the course of the 2000s, many argue that she might have simply collected greater than 10 Slams. A kind of was Macci, who mentioned the 44-year-old would have had 15 Majors if not for her sister.
The youthful Williams sister agreed with that time but additionally famous that she would most likely high the 30-Slams mark if she did not have her sister as a rival.
Within the 2017 Australian Open closing – which turned out to be the final time that the 2 tennis icons met on the Grand Slam stage – Serena gained to enhance to 23 Majors.
“We had this rule that if we performed in opposition to one another earlier than the ultimate, we needed to win the title. I feel Venus would have had a minimal of 15 Grand Slams if we did not play. I might have had 30. There was no separation in any respect. Trying again, I do not understand how we handled that. We have been so shut, we grew up so shut. My household was like, ‘No combating, you ladies are all the time going to be sisters and that is that,” Serena mentioned.
“However we truly lived collectively till I bought married, which wasn’t that way back. We simply all the time lived collectively. I feel that helped our relationship. We had to determine a method to work it out. We needed to talk, you understand, we needed to have these troublesome conversations. I feel we simply, with out even realizing, leaned into that. So long as I used to be successful.”
Macci made a significant declare about Serena Williams
Following her 2017 Australian Open victory, overcoming Court docket’s Slam report appeared like a protected wager. However then, the American needed to take a while away from tennis on account of being pregnant.
When she returned, the previous world No. 1 made 4 extra Grand Slam finals however stunningly went 0-4 in these matches.
In Macci’s eyes, the legendary American was “the most effective athlete ever to carry a racket” and deserved to achieve 30 Majors.
“Serena might have had 30 Grand Slams if she would’ve performed all of the tournaments, wouldn’t have taken day off, wouldn’t have accidents however I feel that’s irrelevant. Individuals don’t notice how good Serena was. She checked each field and he or she added a couple of extra,” Macci mentioned on the Match Level Canada podcast in late 2023.
“She’s the most effective athlete to ever maintain a racket and possibly among the best feminine athletes of all time. Huge, robust, quick, fast, versatile, might do the splits. She additionally knew the place you have been going to hit the ball earlier than you probably did.”
