09 Why Are the Williams Sisters Good at Tennis?
Venus and Serena Williams aretwo of the best female
tennis players in the world. One expert said, “They're faster, stronger, and more powerful than any other women who play the game.” But without their father to guide them, they probably would not know how to play tennis.
When Richard and Oracene Williams got married, Richard told his wife that he wanted to have five daughters. In 1978, Richard saw a woman win $22,000 in a tennis match. He decided he wanted his daughters to be tennis players, too. The three daughters he already had weren't interested in tennis, but Venus was born in 1980, and then Serena in 1981. Now he had five daughters and two more chances to have tennis players.
Richard Williams was not a wealthy man.He dropped out of high school at age sixteen. Then he and his wife started their family in Compton, California. This was not a nice place to live with a young family.“It was a dangerous neighborhood, ” said Richard. The only tennis courts were in a very bad area. Richard first taught himself to play, then he taught his two youngest daughters when they were about four years old.
Both girls liked tennis and were good at it. By age ten, Venus appeared on the front page of the New York Times.She was number one in Southern California for girls under twelve years old. Serena was number one for girls under ten. Richard decided it was time to find a real trainer for Venus and Serena. He moved the family to Florida and enrolled the girls in a tennis school. They played tennis six hours a day, six days a week, and also took regular classes.
At age fourteen,Venus started to play in professional tournaments and won her first professional match. Now Venus was playing tennis with world-famous players. She got a lot of attention. The media was interested in her for many reasons: her age, her sister, her father, and her personal style. She was easy to recognize because of her unique hairstyle. She wore beads in her hair—1,800 beads, which took ten hours to put in. The next year, 1994, the Reebok shoe company paid Venus $12 million for a five-year contract to represent their products. That same year, Serena started to play professionally, too. She also wore beads in her hair. Later, Venus lost points in a tennis match because the beads from her hair fell all over the tennis court. After that, both sisters took out their beads.
Venus and Serena Williams are on the list of the top female tennis players in the world. Because of this, they sometimes have to play against each other professionally. Sometimes Venus wins;sometimes Serena wins. Sometimes they play together in doubles matches. A doubles match has two players on each side of the court. Each set of players works as a team against the other. Venus and Serena became the first sisters team to win a professional doubles match. The sisters went on to represent the United States in Sydney, Australia, for the Summer Olympics of 2000. They won a gold medal for doubles, then Venus won another gold medal on her own.
The sisters are similar to each other in their personalities and their athletic ability.Both of them are intelligent and get good grades in school. Their parents always made them spend as much time on schoolwork as on tennis. Venus still studies French and German and wants to learn Italian.She also writes poetry and works in the fashion industry. Serena speaks Russian and French. She gave a speech in French when she was in Paris. Both girls like to show what they know. They publish a newsletter called the Tennis Monthly Recap. Now they are thinking about college.
Venus and Serena Williams are great athletes who win tournaments and gold medals. They have made a lot of money and are very famous—you can even buy Venus and Serena dolls. But which sister is the better tennis player? We will see.