"Serena Williams doesn't accept second, she explicitly told me herself that she plays for first place" - Venus Williams
Venus Williams recently shed light on the competitive spirit Serena Williams possesses, remarking that her younger sister has never once settled for anything but the very best.
Speaking in an interview with fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar for their March 2022 issue, Venus Williams revealed that the initial public perception was that Serena wouldn't grow up to be as good as her older sister.
The 41-year-old said she was impressed to see how Serena used the criticism as fuel to raise her game to remarkable levels. Venus also divulged that the 23-time Grand Slam champion went as far as to confide in her that she only "plays for the first place."
"Usually in one family there’s one good player and then the other one is not that great. And I think people told Serena she wouldn’t be great," Venus Williams said. "The fearlessness with which she approached the game was something I’ve always really admired. She doesn’t accept second. She explicitly told me herself that she plays for first place.”
Across a career spanning 27 years and counting, Serena has proved that she's never been willing to settle for second. With 73 singles titles and 23 doubles titles on the WTA tour, the American is among the most successful athletes of all time.
"I don’t want to think about what I’m leaving. I just think about who I am every single day behind closed doors and behind cameras. And that’s what I focus on."
Venus and Serena Williams cover Harper's Bazaar's Legacy issue
tomandlorenzo.com/2022/02/venus-…
In the interview, the former World No. 1 dismissed any talk of her "legacy," saying that she did not want to think about what she was going to leave behind after retirement. Instead, she said she wanted to focus on the task at hand and think about who she was as a person off the tennis court.
"[My legacy is] something I don’t think about nor do I want. I don’t want to think about what I’m leaving," Serena Williams said. "I just think about who I am every single day behind closed doors and behind cameras. And that’s what I focus on.”
"I think King Richard is like Iron Man" - Serena Williams
Serena Williams also gave her thoughts on King Richard, a biopic based on her father Richard Williams. The American compared the film to Marvel's iconic Iron Man. According to Serena, the important people in her life deserved their own movie just like the way Iron Man gave rise to an entire cinematic universe where each character starred in a separate film.
Venus and Serena Williams for Harper’s Bazaar https://t.co/YuFpDpH8NT
Serena also said that only after all the stories about her sister Venus Williams, her step-sisters, her mother Oracene Price and others were told would her own story be properly appreciated.
"I am a dreamer, and I love Marvel. I think King Richard is like Iron Man and that there are still other stories around it. The next, obviously, would be the Venus story, and then there’s always the story about our other three sisters, and then there’s like a mom, and then there’s the Serena story," Serena Williams said. "When I look at it, I see it just encompassing this whole superhero kind of thing."
The 23-time Grand Slam champion also heaped praise on her father for the way he raised her and Venus Williams. She hailed him for breaking the stereotype about sports fathers being "really overbearing."
"A lot of people get this different story of sports fathers—especially tennis fathers, who are really overbearing. And that wasn’t necessarily my dad," Serena Williams said. "Everyone’s like, ‘Well, how do you play tennis for so long?’ It’s because we weren’t raised in an environment where it was something that we abhorred."