There is a reason why the father, Richard Williamshas decided to move the entire family from placid Michigan to Compton, a chaotic suburb of Los Angeles. There, you go out on the streets and your day can get complicated immediately, with drug addicts, shootings and other pockets of widespread violence. But if you’re small and you can get by in those parts, it means you can go around the world without fear. To do what Richard has planned for her, which is called Serenaand for the older sister Venus: become voracious tennis mantises.
Of course, seeing it today, a cool day in October 1995, you wouldn’t say that Serena Williams has the talent and character required by the ambition of domination. She has been following her older sister for a long time, admiring her ease, but she senses that that feeling is already changing. Maybe Serena is not really happy about Venus’ successes. Maybe she envies her, and wants to be better than her. And vice versa, of course, even if there is a fierce desire for revenge that unites them, more than putting them against each other in a sporting way: to demonstrate to the white tennis players that the two of them can tear them to pieces.
But, going back to that autumn day, fourteen-year-old Serena seems quite tense. It is about the first qualifying round of the Quebec City tournamentthe beginning of a career that will lead her to win 73 WTA titles, including 23 Grand Slams. But, tender and precocious, she cannot know it yet. From there, a couple of years later, she will first begin to glimpse herself, then to emerge with a feral attitude, the power tennis that will become a trademark of both sisters. Groundstrokes like wild rockets, which are impossible to oppose, because nothing like them has ever been seen before. Defending is no longer necessary for the Williams, when they can close the game in three frantically pushed exchanges.
Serena’s opponent that day is compatriot Annie Millereighteen years old. All around is emptiness. There is no public and the only forms of life that fill the sports center – it really does look like a simple training field – are those crowded together gorging themselves in a kiosk that serves hot food, a few meters from the field. Serena therefore cannot suffer from particular pressures, but she is small, insecure and ultimately not yet ready for that leap. In fact, the Miller shreds it: 6-1/6-1 and immediately home.
However, as she leaves the court, the youngest of the Williamses already makes it clear what kind of mentality has been instilled in her: “I didn’t play like I know how, I played like an amateur”he says, unable to portray his disappointment. He just needs time. Two years later, at the Chicago tournament, people will realize what he is capable of when he knocks out the number seven and number four in the world, namely Mary Pierce and Monica Selesonly to stop in the semifinals, surrendering to Lindsey Davenport.
Two more years – 1999 has come – and he will win his first Grand Slam tournament, the US Opendefeating a sacred monster like Martina Hingis.
On that distant October day, however, she must lay down her arms: as has happened to many great champions, the beginning is traumatic. What matters is the final result.