The Story of a Tennis Champion
By: Erik Hamre
Tags: Sports, Inspiration, Expert Profile, Life Lessons, Self Improvement

Image by Ichigo121212 from Pixabay

The Story of a Tennis Champion

Skill Development Expert Profile — Serena Williams

Richard Williams was watching a tennis match on television. He wasn’t even really paying attention. That was until the game was over and they were giving the young winner a $40 000 check because she had won the tournament.

‘I figured since I worked for $52 000 a year, and this girl made $40 000 in four days, I was in the wrong business.’ -Richard Williams

Richard had never picked up a racket in his life, and his children weren’t even born. But he still sat down and wrote an 86 page plan of how his daughters would become the best tennis players in the world. He bought a book, learned how to teach and decided to make his kids champions. His next two children were both girls, Venus and Serena Williams.

Growing up in Compton

“Two black girls from Compton probably weren’t supposed to play tennis, let alone be very good at it.” — Serena Williams

The Williams family were living in Compton, just outside of Los Angeles, in one of the tougher neighbourhoods of the country. Not exactly a place that’s known for producing many tennis professionals. Richard was often in arguments with gang members over who had the rights to the courts, but he was so determined that they grew tired and usually let him have it. Serena started playing when she was 4.5 years old, following in the footsteps of Venus, just 15 months older. It was Venus who was destined to become the best in the world, but Serena was also determined to make something of herself.

‘I was never supposed to be good. I was never supposed to be the one that was the great player. But I was determined to not become a statistic. So, that’s the only reason I would play tennis. I became a copycat basically.’ -Serena Williams

Serena was growing up in the shadow of Venus, who was destined to become the best. But she grew up having the perfect role model, and she idolised and copied her elder sister in everything she did. She also had the benefit of always playing against a taller and stronger opponent.

‘If you can keep playing tennis when somebody is shooting a gun down the street, that’s concentration.’ -Serena Williams

Commitment

“All my life I’d woken up to tennis, tennis, tennis. Even if I don’t go to practice, I’m thinking about it all day.” — Serena Williams

To become the best at anything, you have to be really committed and be willing to go through the work it takes to get there. You’re not just going to wake up one day and be the best in the world. That’s not how it works and it’s not going to happen, in whatever skill you’re practising.

‘Luck has nothing to do with it because I have spent many, many hours. Countless hours on the court. Working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come.’ -Serena Williams

The Williams sisters have practised every day of their life since they were little girls. Their whole lives revolved around becoming tennis champions and they were training hard every day.

‘Growing up, I wasn’t the richest, but I had a rich family in spirit. Standing here with 19 championships is something I never thought would happen. I went on a court just with a ball and a racket and with a hope.’ -Serena Williams

Self-Confidence

“There’s one thing I’m really good at, and that’s hitting the ball over a net, in a box. I’m excellent.” — Serena Williams

From a young age, Richard taught the Williams sisters to believe in themselves and in their ability to become the best in the world. He was extremely confident that they would succeed, even before they had turned the age of ten.

‘My father told me I was going to be the number one in the world. I was brainwashed.’ -Venus Williams

As Serena went from success to success while growing up, she had no doubts that she would make it to the top and won her first grand slam when she was only 17 years old. She has won 23 single grand slam titles in total, more than any other player in the Open Era. Her sister, Venus, has also been ranked number one in the world and has ten single grand slam titles. They have also won 14 grand slam doubles titles together.

Consistency

As a professional, Serena is still practising the basics every day. Hitting a spectacular shot now and then is not worth much, if you keep missing routine ones. Practising the backhand and forehand every day is, therefore, part of her routine. By being consistent, it becomes easier to repeat the correct motion, and it makes it less likely that your technique will break down under pressure.

When Serena has a problem, she tries to troubleshoot the solution. She tries to identify which part of the technique is lacking and construct practice drills that address that specific problem. If she is missing the net, perhaps she needs to add more topspin to her shots. The essential part here is to get in a lot of repetitions of the shot she wants to improve. It’s about hitting ten out of ten shots perfectly. Only making a shot 50 or 70 per cent of the time, may not be enough to win you the match. This is the main difference between professionals and many amateurs. An amateur is happy if they can make a shot one time. A professional expects to make a shot every time and thinks it needs to be improved if they miss it one out of ten times.

Mental toughness

“It’s not about how you’re doing when you’re winning, but about how you’re coming back when you’re down. Everyone can be on top of the world when they are winning. But it’s a lot more difficult to recover when you’re down.” — Serena Williams

Tennis is a physical sport that requires that you are in great shape. But equally important is the mental part of the game. And the two are often closely connected. Being physically fit makes it a lot easier to stay fully focused as you’re not as exhausted. It also makes it a lot easier not to get distracted by the audience or get angry at a bad call.

Rather than getting angry or upset about making a mistake, it’s more productive to think about what you did wrong and how you can fix it. Did you use enough spin? Did you get under the ball? Was you footwork bad? Find a problem to work with and solve it. It shows character to stay calm and focused even when your game is not at your best. A player who is not mentally tough will often fall apart when they start making a few mistakes and rarely be able to play at their best when put in challenging situations.

Serena’s Pro Tips

Practice a lot when you’re younger, you don’t want any of your fundamentals to be shaky.

Practice against players who are better than you. This will push you to work harder.

In practice, always focus and key in on each point. Try to play aggressively and win every point.

Believe in yourself. If you work hard over time, you can achieve anything.

Always aim to improve. You will never reach perfection, so practice every day to improve your game.

‘The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you’re courageous: be strong, be extremely kind, and above all, be humble.’ -Serena Williams

Take Home Message

The Williams sisters were destined to become the best, even before they were born. Their father coached and motivated them from an early age.

Be committed to practice every day, even on days when you don’t feel like it.

Believe in yourself and that you can make it to the top if you work hard.

Practice shots until you make them ten out of ten times.

Show character by staying calm and focused even when your game is not at its best.

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