- Will Smith hosted Venus and Serena Williams as well as their mom and sisters on “Red Table Talk.”
- The appearance was the family’s first-ever interview as a full family.
- In an exclusive clip, the sisters joke about their mom’s unpredictable wit and Twitter presence.
Venus and Serena Williams have done more than their fair share of interviews over the course of their illustrious, decades-long professional tennis careers.
But for the first time ever, the superstar sisters — who own a combined 33 Grand Slam singles titles between them — were joined by their mother and two sisters for an unprecedented full-family sit-down conversation with Will Smith.
Venus And Serena Williams Talk About Their Mother’s Strength In Latest Episode Of Red Table Talk: ‘She Had To Support Seven People’
Will Smith sat down with tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams on the latest episode of Red Table Talk in preparation for the release of the new movie King Richard.
In the film, Will depicts Venus and Serena’s tenacious and determined father, Richard Williams. Through struggles and successes, Richard fought to help his tennis-playing daughters make it to the upper echelon of their sport.
Later, the tennis icons’ mother and sisters join the episode for their very first appearance as a family. The Williams chatted with Will about how their mother also played a significant role in helping them make it to where they are today.
“My dad at one point was working and then he stopped,” Serena explained. “He’s like this is what we’re going to do: ‘I’m not going to have a job and I’m going to go with Venus and Serena and train them everyday.’”
“Now that would be impossible for me if my husband [Alexis Ohanian Jr.] were to tell me that. I’d be like ‘Well I’ve kind of been working my whole life, I’m trying to relax a little bit,’” Serena noted. Speaking of her mother Oracene Price’s strength as she and her siblings grew up, Serena added, “She had to support seven people — it was a family of seven. And so to have that faith and to have that backend support — we wouldn’t have survived without that.”
“My mom was really the guiding force, and you can see that with her words — they’re wise and full of fun,” Venus said with a chuckle. “They’re fun and she’s very witty.”
Throughout the episode, Will, Venus, Serena and the rest of the gang unpacked other “lessons, losses, wisdom, and wins” from behind-the-scenes stories of King Richard. Viewers also got star-studded surprises from other famous fans of the tennis-playing dup, including Simone Biles, Coco Gauff, Naomi Campbell and more.
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Tennis pros Venus Williams, 41, and Serena Williams, 40, both showed off their killer legs on the red carpet. Both sisters eat mostly plant-based to stay fit.
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This Throwback Interview Of Richard Williams Defending Venus’ Confidence At 14 Is Black Fatherhood At Its Finest
Every few years, a video of Venus Williams having her confidence questioned by a reporter, and her father, Richard Williams, stepping in to defend her, resurfaces. But this time around, with the help of Chicago-based rapper and activist Ric Wilson (check out his recent EP, BANBA), it’s gone viral and been shared by a number of celebrities, and for good reason.
The interview happened back in 1995, and took place for the ABC News program, Day One. A then 14-year-old Venus conversed with correspondent John McKenzie about what she feels inside when she’s on the court, and her confidence when it comes to playing opponents who, at the time, were much older than her. When asked if she thought she could beat a player who isn’t identified in the resurfaced clip, she says, “I know I can beat her,” to which McKenzie responds, “You know [you can beat her]? Very confident.”
When she replies that she is indeed “very confident,” he then begins to quiz her about the reason she’s so comfortable in her abilities, asking, “You say it so easily. Why?”
From there, Richard steps in.
“What she said, she said it with so much confidence the first time, but you keep going on and on,” he said.
When Richard interrupts the interview, McKenzie tries to tell him that they can’t continue with his interruptions, but Richard lets him know they won’t continue if he keeps trying to break the spirit of a child.
“You’ve got to understand that you’re dealing with the image of a 14-year-old child,” he said. “And this child gonna be out there playing when your old a– and me gonna be in the grave. When she say something, we done told you what’s happening. You’re dealing with a little Black kid, and let her be a kid! She done answered it with a lot of confidence, leave that alone!”
McKenzie probably could have formed the question in a different way, but definitely, hearing him sound not impressed, but rather, a tad puzzled by her confidence is disappointing. Interesting enough, the segment actually earned him an Emmy nomination.
As for Venus, now 38, she certainly had a reason to be confident. She went on to win seven Grand Slam singles titles. Along with sister Serena, she is known as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, so it’s clear that Richard was right when speaking on the importance of not trying to interfere with a child’s confidence. This is particularly important for a Black child, who in this world, often struggles to be treated as a simple, innocent kid.
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Richard Williams (tennis coach)
Richard Williams 
Williams at the 2007 Acura ClassicFull name Richard Dove Williams Jr. Born February 14, 1942
Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.Coaching career (1994–present) Coaching achievements Coachee Singles Titles total 49(V)-73(S) (122 titles) Coachee(s) Doubles Titles total 21(S-V)-2(V)-5(S) (28 titles) List of notable tournaments
(with champion)- Career Golden Slam – Singles (Serena)
- 7× Australian Open (Serena)
- 3× French Open (Serena)
- 12× Wimbledon (Williams sisters)
- 8× US Open (Williams sisters)
- 2× Olympic Gold Medal (Williams sisters)
- 6× WTA Tour Championships (Williams sisters)
- 28× WTA Tier I/Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 (Williams sisters)
- Career Golden Slam – Doubles (Williams sisters)
- 4× Australian Open (Williams sisters)
- 2× French Open (Williams sisters)
- 5x Wimbledon (Williams sisters)
- 2× US Open (Williams sisters)
- 3× Olympic Gold Medal
- Fed Cup champions (Williams sisters)
- 2× Hopman Cup (Serena)
- List of titles
Coaching awards and records Records Richard Dove Williams Jr. (born February 14, 1942) is an American tennis coach and the father of Venus and Serena Williams.
Early life
William’s was one of five children and the only son of Julia Mae Metcalf (died 1985) and Richard Dove Williams Sr. of Shreveport, Louisiana. His younger sisters are Pat, Barbara, Penny, and Faye.[1] For a time, the family resided on East 79th Street near railroad tracks.
Williams graduated from high school and moved to Saginaw, Michigan and eventually to California.
Tennis coaching
Williams with his daughters shortly after Serena Williams’ victory in the 2012 Wimbledon ChampionshipsHe 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 an 85-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 would later add that he felt like he took them too early, and the age of six would have been more suitable. 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 in Compton, California, the same area in Los Angeles where the family once resided.
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The Williams Sisters, “THE GREATEST OF TENNIS”
The Williams sisters are two professional American tennis players: Venus Williams (b. 1980), a seven-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), and Serena Williams (b. 1981), twenty-three-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), both of whom were coached from an early age by their parents Richard Williams and Oracene Price. There is a noted professional rivalry between them— between the 2001 US Open and the 2017 Australian Open tournaments, they met in nine Grand Slam singles finals. They became the first two players, female or male, to play in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals from the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open; Serena famously won all four to complete the first of two “Serena Slams”. Between 2000 and 2016, a 17-year span, they collectively won 12 Wimbledon singles titles (Venus won five, and Serena won seven). By winning the 2001 Australian Open women’s doubles title, they became the fifth pair to complete the Career Doubles Grand Slam and the only pair to complete the Career Doubles Golden Slam. At the time, Venus and Serena were only 20 and 19 years old, respectively. Since then, they have gone on to add another two Olympic gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. Nearly a decade later, the duo would go on to win four consecutive Grand Slam doubles titles from 2009 Wimbledon through 2010 Roland Garros, which would catapult them to co-No. 1 doubles players on 7 June 2010. Two weeks later, on 21 June 2010, Serena would hold the No. 1 singles ranking, and Venus would be right behind her at No. 2 in singles. Their most recent Grand Slam doubles titles came at the 2012 Wimbledon and 2016 Wimbledon events. They remain very close, often watching each other’s matches in support, even after one of them has been knocked out of a tournament.
Both sisters have been ranked by the Women’s Tennis Association at the world No. 1 position in both singles and doubles. In 2002, after the French Open, Venus Williams and Serena Williams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, marking the first time in history that sisters occupied the top 2 singles spots in the world rankings. During the 2010 French Open, they became the co-world No. 1 players in women’s doubles. On 21 June 2010, Serena and Venus again held the No. 1 and No. 2 rankings spots in singles, respectively, some eight years after first accomplishing this feat. At the time, Serena was three months shy of her 29th birthday and Venus had just celebrated her 30th birthday.
Both players have won four gold medals at the Summer Olympics, one each in singles and three in doubles—all won together—the most of any tennis players. Venus has also won a silver in mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. As a duo, they have also completed the Career Golden Slam in doubles, twice. Between the two of them, they have completed the Boxed Set, winning all four grand slams in singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. They won all of the mixed doubles titles in 1998 to go along with their titles in singles and women’s doubles.
Serena and Venus’ dad raised champs using these ‘unorthodox’ methods
Richard Williams (in 1991) coached his daughters Venus (left) and Serena to tennis greatness. Just after a 14-year-old Venus Williams had turned pro in 1994 — at the very beginning of a legendary tennis career that would lead to the No. 1 ranking and seven Grand Slam titles — an ABC News reporter pressed the young phenom on why she was “very confident” about beating her next opponent.
“Let me tell you why,” interjected her father Richard Williams, abruptly interrupting the interview and proceeding to get in the reporter’s face. “When she say something, we done told you what’s happening. You’re dealing with a little black kid, and let her be a kid. She done answered with a lot of confidence. Leave that alone!”
It’s a fierce fatherly shutdown depicted in “King Richard,” the new film starring Will Smith as Richard Williams, which opens Friday in theaters and on HBO Max. The movie traces how Williams challenged — and changed — tennis with his vision and mission for his daughters Venus and Serena to take over the sport. With both daughters rising up from the streets of Compton, California, to reach No. 1 — and Serena, winning 23 Grand Slam titles, becoming who many consider to be the greatest player of all time — their father was both a genius and a polarizing figure in breaking racial barriers and the norms of the tennis establishment.
Will Smith stars as Richard Williams in “King Richard,” with Demi Singleton (left) and Saniyya Sidney playing Serena and Venus. “I think Richard was ahead of his time,” “King Richard” director Reinaldo Marcus Green told The Post. “The kinds of things that he was thinking about in protecting his daughters from certain things … He did things that were unorthodox, and I think it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.”
“No question it took the establishment some time to get used to Richard Williams,” said Tennis Channel commentator and Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim, who also wrote the 2001 book “Venus Envy” that covered an early season in the Williams sisters’ careers. “He was a colorful, extreme figure. There were not tennis parents before him that danced on the commentary booth or that held up provocative signs, and it was jarring.”
Richard Williams celebrates with daughter Serena after she won her first US Open in 1999. But Kamau Murray — who coached another black tennis star, Sloane Stephens, to the 2017 US Open and is the founder of XS Tennis, a black-owned academy in Chicago — said that behind “the Richard Williams show” was a man with a brilliant plan for Venus and Serena. “They would have not made it if he was not pushing and then protecting, and then pushing and then protecting,” he said. “They would not have made it. ”
Inspired by watching Romanian player Virginia Ruzici pocket $20,000 for winning the 1978 French Open, Williams came up with a 78-page plan for Venus and Serena to make it out of Compton — where they grew up sharing bunkbeds with three half sisters in one room — and conquer the tennis world. Although he had no formal training — aside from the tennis magazines that he read — he and his then-wife Oracene taught their daughters themselves. Eventually, Williams quit his job as a security guard to coach Venus and Serena full time while Oracene supported the family.
Williams had an innate belief in his own coaching ability and methods. “He’s a very smart person, and very smart people can look at somebody do something and they’re like, ‘Oh, I can do it better,’ ” said Murray. But, he added, “he was great at realizing when he needed some help, when he needed some of the nuances and some of the expertise of somebody [else].”
Richard Williams gives daughter Venus a playful break from her tennis training in 1990. Williams made the controversial decision for Venus and her younger sister Serena to stop playing junior tennis, bypassing the usual breeding grounds for the pro tour. “It was very unusual, so [it was] met with skepticism because nobody had really chosen that path before,” said longtime ESPN tennis commentator Pam Shriver, who, as the former No. 3 player in the world, was Venus’ first tour mentor. “Because they weren’t hung up on results or rankings, they could just develop their game.”
Playing by his own rules, Williams emphasized the importance of education and having fun as kids, even as he made bold — and, to many, wild — predictions about his daughters’ future dominance after yanking them from the junior circuit. Said Wertheim: “It’s literally like, ‘I’m gonna raise my kid and teach him to be the heavyweight champion of the world. And he’s not going to do Golden Gloves — I’ve got my own methods.’ And damn if he didn’t do it.”
With his brash talk and what some perceived to be a self-promoting bravado, Williams had his doubters and detractors as he gave a culture shock to the predominantly white tennis establishment.
Richard Williams holds up a sign saying “It’s Venus’ party and no one was invited” after his daughter won her first Wimbledon in 2000. “This sport can be very cruel to black people in country clubs,” said Murray, who is also now a commentator on the Tennis Channel. “And the thing about tennis — it’s subtle cruelty. It’s not obvious, and it’s not overt. And a lot of times those things can be the most damaging.”
In fact, Green said, Williams took on a lot of the underlying racial tension to protect his daughters from it. “I think part of the genius of Richard Williams was embracing that and taking the pressure in a lot of ways off the girls,” he said
The new film “King Richard” traces how Richard Williams (Will Smith) took Serena (Demi Singleton) and Venus (Saniyya Sidney) from Compton to Wimbledon. After Venus won her first of five Wimbledons in 2000, Williams celebrated in a way that the stodgy, strawberries-and-cream All England Club had never seen before, jumping up and down with a handwritten sign that read, “It’s Venus’ party and no one was invited.”
“Wimbledon 2000 was a wild time,” said Wertheim of Williams bucking tennis etiquette at its oldest and most traditional tournament. “Everyone was talking about Richard Williams jumping up and down, but it took some of the pressure off of Venus and Serena. I think his attitude was, ‘Look, if I’m the lightning rod but it takes some of the burden off of my daughters, bring it on!’ So I think it was really effective in a way.”
Richard Williams holds up a sign saying “Welcome to the Williams show” at the 1999 Lipton Champions, where Venus beat Serena in the final. And, although Williams probably had some in the Royal Box clutching their pearls on that memorable day at Wimbledon, Shriver said that it was progress. “At the time, it was shocking to some people,” she said. “But at the same time it started to usher in an amazing era of diversity and more inclusion and tolerance for differences in the end.”
While there had been some black tennis players on tour before the Williams sisters — including pioneering Grand Slam champions Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe — what Richard Williams started on the streets of Compton changed the game.
“Tennis looks a lot different today, and I would say in some ways is in a much better place,” said Wertheim. “And I give the Williams family a lot of credit for that.”
Venus, 41, and Serena, 40, are still playing 22 years after the younger sister won the first Williams family slam title at the 1999 US Open. Wertheim believes that their longevity comes from the foundation that their father gave them: “I mean, what does it say about the technique he imparted, what does it say about the mental skills he gave them, that they’re still out there?”
Richard Williams takes photos during his daughter Serena’s semifinal victory at the US Open in 2001. But Green said that Williams clearly raised his daughters to be winners off the tennis court as well. “When you think about Venus and Serena, their legacy will be far greater than being tennis players,” he said. “They have so much more to give, and I think [that’s] because of that training, because of how they were raised.”
While Williams — who, at 79, is reportedly in poor health after suffering a series of strokes — hasn’t appeared at a major tournament to watch Venus and Serena in years, his job was done a long time ago. “The love, the commitment that he gave to those girls was paramount,” said Green. “And how much admiration that they still have for their father to this day is incredible.”
The quartet — Venus and Serena, older half-sisters Isha and Lyndrea Price, and mom Oracene Price — will be on this week’s episode of Facebook Watch’s “Red Table Talk,” which begins streaming Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET.
With Smith guiding the conversation, the women reminisced about the past, discussed their dynamic as a family, and reflected on the process of creating “King Richard” — a blockbuster film about the Williams sisters’ journey to tennis glory spearheaded by their father, Richard. Smith plays the titular character in the movie, which comes out in theaters and on HBO Friday.
In a particularly funny moment from the episode, the sisters joke about their mom’s witty sense of humor that can, sometimes, become a bit unpredictable. Venus stresses that Oracene is “so fun” before Serena interjects that “we do hold our breath a lot sometimes when she speaks in public.”
“I think that’s why she ended her Twitter account — or she was forced to,” she added as the whole group laughed.
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