Venus and Serena Williams were groomed from a young age to become the best athletes the
tennis world has ever seen.
But their road to success hasn't been easy.
From coping with the murder of a loved one to dealing with racism, here is their tragic
story.
A dirty home court
After being amazed by how much money tennis stars were raking in, Venus and Serena's dad,
Richard Williams, taught himself how to play the game by watching instructional videos.
To achieve his dream of raising two of the most talented tennis stars ever, he had his
daughters spend hours practicing the game on tennis courts in the gang-infested city
of Compton, California.
Their home court was littered with syringes, and it was far too common for them to hear
random gunfire while training.
Despite the grave and scary conditions that would've prompted most people to give up the
sport for good, the Williams family had success on their minds, and their years of training
eventually paid off.
Richard went on to be inducted into the American Tennis Association Hall of Fame and the Black
Tennis Hall of Fame.
And the sisters, of course, have gone on to dominate in decades-long careers.
But the memories of their hometown tennis courts will remain with them forever.
"We seen before they were born that they were gonna be number one."
A tragic death
The Williams family was struck by tragedy in September 2003 when Venus and Serena's
half-sister Yetunde Price, a nurse and mother of three, was killed in Compton, while sitting
in a car with her boyfriend.
The murder happened just one mile from the same tennis courts where the Williams sisters
trained during their younger years.
Almost six years after the tragic event, Serena opened up about her sister's death in an interview
with People magazine.
She admitted that she suffered from depression and "never even talked about it" with her
mother.
She also revealed that no one even knew she had secretly attended therapy sessions to
help deal with the grief.
In honor of their lost loved one, the family created the Yetunde Price Resource Center
in 2016 to provide financial, spiritual, emotional, and physical resources to those who've been
impacted by violence.
The Indian Wells Incident
Venus and Serena were set to meet in the semifinals of the 2001 Indian Wells Masters tournament,
but Venus pulled out five minutes before the match, citing tendinitis in her knee.
This angered the crowd, who questioned the sisters' and their father's integrity.
Richard told USA Today that as he and Venus were taking their seats, fans in the stand
called him the N-word.
He ultimately chose to walk away and handle the situation nonviolently.
Serena ended up winning the tournament, though she was booed during the final and even during
the trophy presentation ceremony.
"An American crowd booing an American family, and you have to say, that it does smack of
a little bit of racism."
The entire Williams family was heartbroken over the events.
Venus and Serena boycotted the tournament for 14 years.
Serena returned to Indian Wells in 2015, and she ended up making it to the semifinals.
Choosing to step foot at the same place where she experienced one of her darkest professional
moments is a true testament to the Williams' sisters resilience.
Racism all over
Early on in their careers, Venus and Serena's appeal could be attributed to the fact that
they were two young African American women in a sport not known for its diversity.
But soon enough, they proved to have the on-court talent to mark their place in the record books
no matter what their skin color.
Making it in the sport wasn't easy, and, unfortunately, the Williams sisters have encountered a great
deal of racism along the way.
But one of the worst racist displays didn't even come from the tennis scene.
In September 2018, three amateur Australian rules football players of the Penguin Football
Club dressed up in blackface to imitate the sisters and Aliir Aliir, an Australian football
player from Sudan.
The insensitive photo was posted on Facebook and was deleted after intense backlash.
The Penguin Football Club issued a statement to Australia's ABC News on behalf of the players,
expressing their remorse.
But the damage had already been done.
A scary postpartum
Serena won the 2017 Australian Open while she was eight weeks pregnant.
But after she gave birth, things didn't go nearly as smoothly.
In September of that year, she delivered her daughter via an emergency C-section after
the baby's heart rate dropped dangerously low during contractions.
Thankfully, the surgery went perfectly, and Serena and her now-husband, Alexis Ohanian,
happily welcomed their baby girl, Alexis Olympia, into the world.
Unfortunately, it wasn't long until things took a dark turn.
While recovering from the C-section, Serena experienced shortness of breath, which was
later attributed to small blood clots in her lungs.
Her C-section wound later unstitch itself and ruptured during an intense coughing spell.
This required yet another surgery that revealed that a collection of blood known as a hematoma
had flooded her abdomen.
"Unfortunately, once I had the C-section, everything from there was pretty much a nightmare."
After having a filter inserted into a major vein as a preventative measure, Serena was
finally able to go home, thankful to have the opportunity to start her life as a new
mom.
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