Random chance never played a role in Venus and Serena Williams’s takeover of women’s tennis. Their tennis prominence was entirely domination by design.
Even before the sisters were born, their father, Richard Williams, had conceived of a vision for something that hadn’t yet existed, for the game of tennis to become a power sport. He wrote down this vision in a 70-something page manifesto and shortly after the birth of his daughters, found the ideal time to enact it.
The Venus and Serena documentary, consisting mostly of a string of home videos, spans over a decade of the sisters’ lives: from before they were teens through when they won their first majors until the present.
There is surprisingly much continuity and an incredible amount of footage from their early years that you would wonder whether this documentary wasn’t also part of Richard Williams’s tennis manifesto.
We witness the marquee events in their rise to their unprecedented popularity. One pinnacle of their upsurge in fame occurred during their primetime Grand Slam match up that drew ratings eclipsing the men’s singles game.
Since countless other sports programs have brought us those highlights, the special moments in the documentary are those where we chance upon the Williams sisters away from their athleticism and stardom.
We get to know them in a down-to-earth fashion, in their home environment on the Karaoke machine, on the practice courts, which aren’t as tense as the Grand Slams and without the thousands of ogling fans. We also catch a glimpse of their dating lives—although there’s not much room for romantic relationships since tennis is their first love. Venus mentions that she might marry when she’s 40 or 50.
We also see emotions that ebb and flow after losses and hardships. Serena broils after a loss in an early round of a tournament. Both sisters have teary eyes battling through injuries.
Besides the personal dramas on the court, the Williams sisters also encountered hostility from spectators and fellow competitors. They faced jealousy from women who said they stayed to themselves and wouldn’t hang out with the other players after matches. They endured the ire of fans who concocted devious schemes about how one Williams sister would forfeit a match to allow the other to advance to a final.
Most important, at least the sisters would probably say so, is how their family lives are inseparable from their tennis conquests. Their family brings a formidable support system that is invaluable in their being successful for so long, or at all.
Their father taught them to be confident in their abilities. Their mother, Oracene Price, taught them to be comfortable in their own skin in a tennis world that had crowned few African American champions.
One glimpse of their fairly large family tells us that there are far more Williamses who don’t play tennis than do. They hold an annual Williams invitational family tennis event that’s more a family reunion than a competitive tournament.
The sisters also volunteer their time giving neighborhood kids tennis tips, showing a family that extends outside of blood and lineage to the Compton community that reared them.
Even after Venus and Serena step off the scene, their father’s plan will remain. He revolutionized the way women’s tennis is played. The power and strength of the game is demonstrated not only with Venus and Serena but also in the style of Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka and U.S. standout Sloane Stephens.
However, strength isn’t the Williams sisters’ only hallmark. They mix the power game with a refined finesse. Along with their tennis practices, they train with Tai Bo, ballet, jazz, and even pole dancing, in order to master the art of movement.
Their inventive outfits grace the cover of Vogue magazine.
Out of Venus and Serena’s careers has emerged a new, modern standard for combining beauty and athleticism. Maybe that was part of the manifesto too.
