The world is all too familiar with veteran personality Richard Williams and his contributions towards the welfare of his acclaimed daughters, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams.
Notably one of the most highly decorated athletes, Venus although a seven-time Grand Slam champion did not achieve that milestone without first having encountered numerous hardships which helped her shape her career in the most esteemed way possible.
Staying on the course about such struggles, her father and former coach Richard Williams opened up about how he taught his daughters to engage themselves on the tougher road to ensure they don’t end up collecting momentous pride which ultimately hurts their future.
In an exclusive person-to-person interview with CNN, quotes from Richard’s self-written book “Black and White: The Way I See It” were read aloud to help the audience grasp his analysis of the parental world and how he raised his daughters.
The quote in the discussion read “I surely don’t understand all these parents today who are always telling their kids how special they are, without them proving it. That’s not faith, that’s flattery.”
Upon being asked to ponder his beliefs standing behind the statement, Williams said “I’ve seen a lot of kids in tennis with their wrists beat up, innocent kids who get beat up. ‘Didn’t Serena (Williams) get beat up if she lose? I said no. I pay them. I want my kids to learn how much I love them.”
The 81-year-old who is known for moving his family into the roughest crime-ridden neighborhood of Los Angeles, Campton, later in the interview also delegated on the terms he lived by during Venus and Serena Williams’ childhood.
Richard Williams’ strictness for daughters Venus Williams and Serena Williams made them strong
Discussing quotes from Richard Williams’ book, his take on his daughters’ childhood was mentioned which said “I feel that we’re too soft on our children. The way Venus and Serena were raised, they didn’t have no choice but to be strong.”
Opening his thoughts on the same, Richard said “If you take the roughest neighborhood what came from that area? Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg. The first two are rappers, they came out of a ghetto, including Joe Louis. That’s what I wanted to teach my kids, there’s nothing free but you can work your way out of there.”
Richard’s biopic and his journey of making his daughters Serena and Venus Williams into the legendary personalities they are today have been formulated in an Oscar-winning movie titled ‘King Richard‘ which stars American superstar Will Smith playing the character of Williams.