How Williams sisters impressed Rick Macci

How Williams sisters impressed Rick Macci

Sisters Serena, left, and Venus Williams shake hands after a game 1991 in Compton, CA.
Photo: Getty Images

Venus and Serena Williams were 10 and nine when their father wrote from the ghettos of Los Angeles to the US's top tennis academies, inviting coaches to see his daughters play. He claimed that they were potential stars. Rick Macci was the only coach to take the trip to California.

'It was May, it was slow,' Macci tells me. 'But I wasn't impressed with what I saw. The girls were all over the place. Richard had been their only teacher.' As Macci was about to leave, Venus walked off the court on her hands, bowling him over with her athleticism. He stayed to watch the girls play with each other. 'That was when they looked like two of the best players for their age in the States,' says Macci. He gave the girls full scholarships. The rest, of course, is history.

From Venus and Serena Williams: Grand Slam Sisters By Terri Morgan

 They did allow several coaches to watch the girls practice. One of those coaches was Rick Macci, who worked at International Tennis Academy in Orlando, Florida. When Venus was Ten, Macci flew out to California to see her play tennis with Serena.

Macci was used to watching outstanding young players. But when Macci saw Venus play for the first time, his jaw dropped with amazement. She was even more impressed with Venus’s athletic ability when she left the court to visit the bathroom. “As she walks out the gate she walks at least 10 yards on her hands,” Macci told a reporter for Tennis magazine. “I was stunned. Then she went into these backward cartwheels for another 10 yards. I’m watching this and the first thing I thought was ‘I’ve got a female Michael Jordan on my hands.”

At that time, tuition at tennis academy was $2,200 a month. Richard couldn’t afford that. But Macci was moving to Ford Lauderdale, Florida, to work at the Inverray Racquet Club. He offered to coach both Venus and Serena there for free. After talking it over, Richard and Oracene decided to accept the offer. Richard felt that Venus and Serena wewe too young to be separated from the rest of their family. So he sold his security business, and Oracene quit her nursing job. Then they packed up everything and moving to southern Florida with all five daughters.

The family settled in a home at Delray Beach, north of Ford Lauderdale. Richard and Oracene enrolled Venus and Serena, then ages eleven and ten, in local public schools. After classes ended for the day, Richard drove the sisters to the club for tennis practice. Playing six hours a day, six days a week, both girls worked very hard to improve their games. Later, Richard and Oracene decided to homeschool their daughters, teaching the girls at the family home. This arrangement gave Venus and Serena more time with the family and fewer outside distractions.

…While the other kids played regularly in junior tournaments, Richard still wouldn’t allow Venus and Serena to compete. He thought that competition would distract them from their studies and the joys of childhood. “I’m not going to let Venus pass up on her childhood,” Richard explained. “Long after tennis is over, I want her to know who she is.”

Also many people critized Richard’s decision, Coach Macci respected it. “[Richard] had done what he thought in his heart was best for the girls,” Macci said, “He gets an A-triple plus for being the type of parent he is. He’s got educated, well-mannered kids who have their priorities in line.”

Macci also felt that Venus in particular did not need to play in tournaments to hone her skills.


Venus Williams 1992