Richard Williams (tennis)

Richard Williams (born 1942) is an American tennis coach. He is best known for being the father of Serena and Venus Williams, both former World No.1 tennis players and multi-grand slam winners.

Biography

Richard Williams met his wife, Oracene, when both were young and had a son called Gabriel Mukuka. In 1979, the couple got married and lived in Lansing, Michigan. Oracene had three daughters with her former husband, Yusef Rasheed. Richard also had children from a former marriage.

Richard and Oracene eventually moved west, settling in the Los Angeles Compton area; Richard Williams would later make public his pride in having lived in Compton.

Richard Williams is said to have dreamed of a better future for his five daughters, and wanted at least one of them to succeed in sports. He began to take his daughters to Compton public tennis courts, where, according to his daughters' accounts, they had to get down on the ground one time to avoid bullets fired during an apparent drive-by.Fact|date=August 2007

Williams soon got his daughters into California tennis tournaments. But the Williamses reportedly suffered racism while competing in California.Fact|date=August 2007 That experience mayFact|date=August 2007 have prompted some of the outspoken comments Williams would later on make to the media.

As 2000 began, Venus Williams was recovering from tendonitis on both wrists. She was forced to stay out of the women's tennis tour for almost half of the year. According to Venus Williams, she and her father spent most of their time watching "Zorro" on television at home.Fact|date=March 2008

Richard and Venus Williams went back on the road, flying to France for that year's French Open. Soon after, they went to England for the Wimbledon competition.

After his daughter's victory over Davenport, Williams jumped over the NBC broadcasting booth, catching Chris Evert by surprise and performing a triumphant dance. Evert said that the broadcasters "thought the roof was coming down". He displayed his pride in having lived in Compton by shouting "Straight out of Compton!" after the match was over.

On September 14, 2003, Richard Williams suffered tragedy, as his stepdaughter, Yetunde Price, was shot to death while riding in a car with her boyfriend in Compton.

References

External links

* [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/2001/03/26/ericsson_open_ap/ SportsIllustrated.com, about the Indian Wells incident]
*http://www.sportsline.com/tennis/story/10725357