Serena Williams has had to battle through a lot in her life
to reach the astounding heights in tennis. The 23-time Grand Slam champion is
grateful that younger black players such as Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka have it
easier than she did.Speaking to Porter, the 44-year-old was reminiscing on her glorious career. She was the dominant force on the WTA Tour for well over two decades, breaking barricades and accumulating accolades regularly. She won a total of 39 Grand Slam titles from singles to doubles, four Olympic gold medals and 73 tour-level singles titles in a decorated career. While the titles came at a rate of knots, there were setbacks in her career.Not wanting to be the centre of attention
Despite finding herself in the headlines for her brilliance
and success on the court, this was never a position Williams felt comfortable
in or relishes. “I do not like attention on me. I guess in
tennis, I just did the best I could do, but I’m not the kind of person that
needs to be in the centre, in the front,” Williams said. “It felt really good to be honoured,
but I was like, I’m never doing this again. Everyone’s like, congrats and good
job. And I’m like, can we just not talk about me right now?”
Out of all she had achieved, many people were quick to take
a jab at her. One was her physique, with many ostracising her from other
players in this topic. “It does affect
you mentally. Absolutely,” she admitted. “You think you’re large for your whole
life and you look [back] and you’re like, I was fit. Yeah, I had big
muscles. I didn’t look like these other girls but not everyone looks the same.”
Early in her career, she made an important decision that would avoid her from drinking in the negative attention she would sometimes be a victim of. “When I
was 17, when I won the Open for the first time, I took a decision there. I was
so young, but I said I’m never going to read anything about me. At the Open,
there was so much positivity, and I thought, I don’t want my head to get too
big. I wanted to stay humble. I also thought if it’s negative, I don’t want to
read it. I never really read an article after that.”
What she encountered players now will not face
Williams gave an insight on the sad reality of being black while growing up in the sport. “Growing up and being Black in tennis, it’s just like, well,
that comes with negativity,” she stated. “You have something mean to say, get
in line. You got to go way back. It’s going to take you a few days to get
there. Join the crowd. I don’t hear the noise.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. How am I going to sit here and change
someone’s thought? If [you] don’t like me, you don’t have to.”
Luckily in tennis, Williams believes that this has changed for the better, despite the ‘internet trolls’ that persist most players in the sport. It
is massively to the benefit of black players such as Gauff and Osaka, Grand
Slam champions who have already made a lasting impact in the sport. “It’s
changed. No one’s calling these girls the [things] I was called.
People would say we were like men and all this other stuff,” she confessed.
“I’m not going to let anyone bring me down. I put enough
stress on myself. The last thing I’m going to allow is someone else to do that.
But I’m so happy that girls nowadays don’t have to go through it as much. I
mean, I think internet trolls are different. So, you have that to deal with.”
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