American youngster Alycia Parks, a self-described Serena Williams fan, has hit a bit of a purple patch in recent weeks — having lifted the biggest title of her career at the WTA 125K event in Andorra.
Taking time out between celebrating the most important win of her career, the 21-year-old — whose claim to fame so far has been her gutsy win over Maria Sakkari at this year's Ostrava Open — spoke to WTA about her journey so far as well as her reaction to watching the Venus and Serena Williams-inspired biopic King Richard.
Speaking of the film, Parks said there were a lot of scenes that reminded her of her own formative years — adding that it was weird how similar their early years looked. She then went on to recall her experience of sharing the court with Venus Williams and Serena Williams during the US Open practice session, before dubbing the latter tennis' "Greatest of all Time (GOAT)".
"When I watched King Richard, there were a lot of scenes [that felt familiar]," said Parks. "We kind of did it that way too. It was so weird because it was so similar.
"It felt good at the US Open that I got to hit with both of them. Serena especially, because I look up to Serena. She's the GOAT of tennis. What can you do besides look up to her? She's literally tennis."