Venus and Serena Williams discuss inspirations growing up to Naomi Campbell: "Thankfully we had good role models"
Tennis News
Venus and Serena Williams are known as of course two of the finest female athletes in history with their records speaking for themselves and speaking during lockdown to the international supermodel Naomi Campbell, they admitted that they always had good grounding growing up.
They also discussed their own tips for beginning a career in tennis and first of all having to miss so many big tournaments due to Coronavirus.
"It’s fun to play Wimbledon and the US Open and the French Open," the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion stated. "And we missed our tournaments in our home states of California [Indian Wells] and Florida [Miami]."
"Growing up, we were the youngest on the totem pole, so we just did everything that our sisters did," said Venus. "Thankfully we had good role models."
"If [my older sisters] were doing something different, I would have done it too," Serena agreed.
"‘Do the work for tennis, and then let it work for you.’ It’s icing on the cake to get to the professional level, it’s not easy to do or easy to maintain, and it’s not impossible."
"I would say get everything you can out of sports," Venus added. "Work as hard as you can, surround yourself with people who are positive, smart, wise, build you up, have your best interests at heart, and want to help you get where you need to get to. So, when you do those things, whether you go professional or not, the game will do the work for you. You’ll learn so much."
"Mic drop, I couldn’t put it any better," Serena concluded. "What you do and what you learn, it brings the discipline and the drive to do whatever you want to do.
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.
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