"I was bad": Serena Williams shares early career insecurities in rare admission

Former world number one Serena Williams has opened up about insecurities she had in her early career. The 44-year-old is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of women’s tennis after having won as many as 23 Grand Slam titles in her career.

Serena recently featured in the second episode of Stockton Street, where she spoke at length about her insecurities in the early phase of her career.Serena stated that early in her career, she thought that she would not be able to get past any big-name player because she thought she was ‘small’ and ‘bad’.

"I sucked. I was bad," said Serena. "I didn’t have it. I only hit lobs. Remember, I only hit lobs. I was terrible. I mean, even when I first turned pro, I was really bad. Not that I didn’t, but I just thought I wasn’t that good. I thought I could outlast people because I was small at the time. I thought I could outlast them and just be out there. And yeah, I never really thought about it.”

Serena then went on to explain how her father once asked her and her sister Venus to pick a Grand Slam and target it to win. While Venus picked Wimbledon, Serena revealed that she chose the US Open, but also stated that she never thought she would be able to go and win that competition.

"Then, when Dad told us to pick a tournament to win so we could focus on the goal, you picked Wimbledon too,” said Serena. “And then he said I needed to pick something different. So I picked the US Open, but I didn’t really think I would make it."

Serena’s fears did not became a reality as she had a fabulous record while playing at the Flashing Meadows where she lifted the title six times. US Open was in fact Serena’s first first-ever major title in 1999 where she defeated the former world number one Switzerland’s Martina Hingis in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6. Her last US Open title came in 2014 when she defeated former world number one Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-3.

Serena retired from the sport in September 2022 to focus on her family. She finished her career with 23 major titles, which is the most by a women’s tennis player in the Open era. The closest player to her achievement was the former world number one, Germany’s Steffi Graf, who lifted 22 major titles in her career in the Open era.

Serena’s last major triumph came in 2017 when she lifted the Australian Open after beating her sister Venus Williams in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-4. After that triumph, Serena managed to play in the final of the Grand Slams on four occasions, twice in 2018 and twice in 2019, but on all four occasions, she ended up on the losing side. The Australian Open and Wimbledon are two major titles that she has won seven times each. The French Open was the major title that Serena lifted the least number of times in her career (3).  

Other than that, Serena also won 14 Grand Slams in the doubles category and two in the mixed doubles category. Serena also won four Olympic gold medals for her country. Three of them came in the doubles category, and on each occasion, her partner was her sister Venus. Serena’s only Olympic gold medal in the singles category came in 2012 in London, where she defeated former world number one Maria Sharapova of Russia in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-0, 6-1.