Serena won’t push daughter into tennis
Venus may be willing to coach Olympia
WIMBLEDON, England – Serena Williams understands, and appreciates, the dedication and sacrifices it took from her parents to develop her into a brilliant tennis champion.
The effort, which also delivered sister Venus to the list of tennis greats, proved that hard work and determination can open doors to the American dream of fame and fortune.
In prize money alone, Williams has earned more than $84 million. She has won 23 Grand Slam tournament singles titles and one Olympic gold medal in singles and three gold with Venus in doubles.
Taking all that into consideration, Williams admitted after her 6-2, 6-2 fourth-round win over Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina on Monday that she doesn’t believe she has what it takes to do the same for her daughter, Alexis Olympia.
“I don’t understand how they did it,” Williams said of her divorced parents, Richard and Oracene. “I could not go out, as much as I love her (Olympia), I don’t think I could do it every single day what my dad did. I don’t think I could do that.
“Then what my mom did ... I don’t know. I actually would not be able to do that,” she added of her mother, who
had five daughters to raise. “So I’m so grateful to have my parents. I look back, and I want to do even better to just thank them because they were so selfless and, wow, just amazing.”
Don’t misunderstand. It’s not that Williams doesn’t want to be the best mom possible. She just doesn’t feel wired for that kind of role.
“I’m not sure if I’m a great coach,” Williams said. “I could be a good mental coach. In terms of a tennis coach, I clearly don’t know if I have the patience.”
While Aunt Venus has apparently put forth the notion she could coach Olympia, she also has ground rules that wouldn’t make her ideal for the job.
“Venus said she would coach her, she just doesn’t want to travel,” said Serena, smiling. “I’m like, ‘OK, you’re thinking way far in advance. Olympia is not playing tennis, unless, of course, she wants to.’ ”
And there is the biggest problem regarding the possibility of Alexis Olympia Ohanian becoming a future tennis champion. Mom really doesn’t want her to follow in her footsteps.
“I don’t know. It’s a lot of work,” said Williams, when asked why not a tennis career for Olympia.
“Plus, I mean, I don’t want her to have pressure from what I did, you guys (the media) talking about, ‘Are you going to be able to do as good as your mom? I don’t want her to have that.
“I think it will be interesting to see what she gravitates to,” Williams added. “I really don’t know. Ice skating could be fun. She’ll probably be really tall.”
Right now, it’s important to note that Olympia just started walking last weekend so it’s hard to determine if she’s inherited the athletic gene.
Williams tweeted that she missed her daughter’s first steps Saturday but has discovered that’s just part of life.
“She has walked for me since, a lot,” Williams said. “I don’t usually read (Twitter) mentions. Stuff like that I do, or if I ask for advice I do. It was so positive. So many people, basically everyone in the mentions was like, ‘Oh, so did I. It’s no big deal.’ ”
The good news is Olympia is only 10 months old, so the worry as to who she will be when she grows up isn’t an immediate concern for Williams. Therefore, Williams can put most of her energy into working toward winning an eighth career Wimbledon title this week.
As each day has passed at this Wimbledon, Williams’ game is getting back to being as formidable as it was before her maternity leave, which started after she won her 23rd Grand Slam title while pregnant at the 2017 Australian Open.
While Serena the dominator is returning, many of the players supposedly with the best chances to win here have all gone by the wayside. The departure of seventh-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the fourth round Monday translates to all top 10 seeds having checked out early. Of course, 181st-ranked Williams, who is playing here on a protected ranking of No. 1 and was seeded 25th, doesn’t quite see it that way.
“Well, isn’t (Angelique) Kerber technically in the top 10 (ranking)?” she said, rhetorically. “She’s just seeded 11. On a technicality, we still have one player in the top 10 that’s there.
“I don’t think this has happened to this extreme,” she added. “But also I’ve never been ranked where I am when this has happened before, so usually I’m one of those few seeds left that’s still fighting and still in the tournament.”
While Kerber could be a final opponent for Williams if they both journey that far — they played here in the 2016 final with Williams winning — there are two rounds to go before anyone is playing for the trophy.
Williams, who earned her 90th win in 100 matches played at Wimbledon with the Rodina match, will play unseeded Camila Giorgi of Italy in the quarterfinals Tuesday.