Richard Williams (tennis coach)
Williams at the 2007 Acura Classic
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| Born |
February 16, 1942 Shreveport, Louisiana, United States of America |
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| Coaching career (1994–) | |
| Coaching achievements | |
| Coachee Singles Titles total | 45(V)-64(S) (109 titles) |
| Coachee(s) Doubles Titles total | 21(S-V)-2(V)-5(S) (28 titles) |
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List of notable tournaments (with champion)
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| Coaching awards and records | |
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Venus Williams#Records and achievements
Serena Williams#Other records and achievements
Richard Williams (born February 16, 1942) is an American tennis coach, and father of Venus and Serena Williams.
Williams was one of six children and the only son of Julia Mae Williams of Shreveport, Louisiana.
Richard graduated from high school, moved to Chicago, and eventually to California, where he met Betty Johnson, whom he married in 1965. They had three daughters and three sons before divorcing in 1973. In 1979 Williams met Oracene Price, who had three daughters by her late husband. They married in 1980 after Venus was born, and lived for a time in Saginaw, Michigan, but eventually moved to Compton.
He took tennis lessons from a man known as "Old Whiskey" and decided his future daughters would be tennis professionals when he saw Virginia Ruzici playing on television. Williams says that he wrote up a 78-page plan, and started giving lessons to Venus and Serena when they were four and a half, and began taking them to the public tennis courts. (He now says he feels like he took them too early, and six is a better age.) Soon he got them into Shreveport tennis tournaments. In 1995, Williams pulled them out of a tennis academy, and coached them himself.
Serena won the US Open in 1999; Venus beat Lindsay Davenport to win the 2000 Wimbledon title. After that victory, Richard shouted "Straight Outta Compton!" (in reference to a song by N.W.A based on that area in Los Angeles) and jumped over the NBC broadcasting booth, catching Chris Evert by surprise and performing a triumphant dance. Evert said that the broadcasters "thought the roof was coming down".
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Wikipedia