Serena Williams shares sport she wanted to go into before dad ‘crushed dreams’ | Tennis | Sport
Serena Williams has revealed how her dad “crushed” her dreams of making it in an entirely different sport. Williams is widely considered to be the greatest female tennis star of all time, having left an indelible mark on the sport prior to her retirement in 2022.
The 44-year-old, from Compton, California, won an incredible 23 Grand Slam singles titles, along with a further 14 women’s Grand Slam doubles titles alongside her older sister, Venus. Her glittering career spanned almost four decades, having first picked up a racquet at the age of four and turned professional in 1995.
Their dad, Richard, home-schooled them as children and also acted as one of the sisters’ official coaches, even pulling them out of Rick Macci’s academy to coach them himself. His meticulous methods proved crucial in what his daughters went on to achieve, leaving them with very few regrets in the long term.
However, for all her success, Serena revealed this week that her childhood dream was to become a gymnast if things didn’t work out in tennis. The Wimbledon legend shared a story when talking to track and field star Gabby Thomas in the latest episode of Stockton Street, her podcast with Venus, about her father brutally shutting down that dream.
She said: “I desperately wanted to be a gymnast. One day my dad was like, ‘What would you do if it doesn’t work out in tennis?’ I would say, ‘I want to be a gymnast’.
“One day my dad took me aside and he’s like, ‘You can’t say that anymore’. I was also like 10 years old. When I tell you I was devastated, my heart sank, and I felt like, ‘You crushed my dreams of being a gymnast!'”
Venus chimed in by adding: “She was already too tall, and you have to start really young. The ship had sailed, in the right direction though. Right, straight to Flushing around the corner.”
Serena instead dedicated her life to tennis and won her first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open in 1999 at the mere age of 17. She set a host of records throughout her career and hung up her racquet with one final appearance at the US Open.
