"She has a demand for excellence" - Serena Williams' agent gives some insight into what motivates the WTA legend
WTA
Although Serena Williams has not given up her quest to claim her 24th Grand Slam title, longtime agent Jill Smother believes the American has nothing left to prove.
Smoller stated that although people were putting pressure on Williams to win a record-tying 24th Grand Slam title, the former World No.1's legacy was already set in stone.
“At 23 or 20 Slams, she shouldn’t have to hit another ball for us to say what she’s done is historic,” Smoller said. “Yes, there’s that 24, but the times were so different back then. How do you compare 23 Grand Slams in this day and age to a record set 100 years ago when the tennis was so different?
“She doesn’t have to hit another ball to have her greatness set in stone. I do know there’s still some stuff undone and she likes to be able to control her narrative and legacy.”
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Furthermore, Smoller revealed the 40-year old motivates herself, and has overcome all the adversity faced in her career.
“She has a demand for excellence,” added Smoller. “She wants to be able to do everything on her own terms and be in control of her narrative. What’s kept her motivated each time is that she didn’t feel like she was done.
“You put an obstacle in front of her and I’ll give you a person who will put their head down and will stop at nothing to accomplish what they have set in front of her.”
Williams is currently rehabilitating from a torn hamstring, but is scheduled to return to the courts at the 2022 Australian Open.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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