A look at how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams became who they are after the coaching from their father Richard Williams.
“King Richard,” which is based on a true story, shows us how one imperfect father and husband, singlehandedly built a strategy to produce two world-renown tennis greats from a two-fold dimension of ignorance and genius. From a very young age, Richard Williams (Will Smith) knew that he wanted to rise above his humble beginnings by setting his family up for success. He also knew that the world he lived in was cruel and he didn’t want his own children to face the harsh treatment and undeserved criticism he received from childhood to his adult years.
When the film opens, Richard plays the doting father who makes sure his children are tucked into bed each evening and given a positive message of reinforcement before he goes to work at night. Between him and his wife, Oracene (Aunjanue Ellis), they try to fill in the gaps with one another in raising their kids to be self-confident and fearless. While Oracene’s (Brandy) job as a nurse is hectic, it is even more hectic trying to make ends meet while she supports her husband’s plan to make the girls famous. Even though only two of the girls are being groomed to be tennis champions, the other three, Tunde (Mikayla Bartholomew), Lyndrea (Layla Crawford), and Isha (Daniele Lawson) are very supportive of their sisters and the family plan. Every single day, Richard’s plan to teach his daughters how to become self-sufficient in life is centered around his overwhelming desire to have them work hard and be consistent in their practice sessions. While his main goal is to get them to the point where they can have a professional coach show them the ropes, Richard has a difficult time getting out of his own way in order to secure a path to their success. When Richard finally bullies his way into getting Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn) to agree to coach, he only gets Paul to commit to coaching Venus while Serena had to learn from watching tapes of the sessions. While it seemed like a setback, Brandy stepped in to fill the gaps by individually coaching Serena with the heart, soul, and every bit of energy as a professional coach. While Richard was out with his girls every day attempting to prove that two black girls from Compton, CA, could excel in the sport as much as any other person, his wife didn’t always agree that his rough handling of the girls and their attitudes, was the best way to make them great. This caused a great divide between the two, yet each of them wanted the family to succeed as a whole.
As the girls continued to develop great skills under Richard’s tutelage, there seemed to be more conflict when Coach Cohen made a suggestion for the girls to play Juniors and Richard was adamantly opposed. After pulling Venus away from the Juniors for three years, she was finally set up to compete with the reigning champ and her questionable tactics threw Venus off-guard and she was not able to win the match. Richard still felt that he had succeeded in doing things his own way and moved on to recruit Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal) as the next greatest coach in their lives. While they were steadily moving forward and being more recognized for their greatness, Richard still felt that Venus was not quite ready for the big leagues and even a tempting $3 million dollar deal was not enough enticement to get Venus to go against her gut. In spite of all the opposition about how Richard was training his future champions, they still managed to show the world that they were a solid force to reckon with, and eventually, Richard, forever the negotiator, managed to get Rick to pay all expenses in moving their family to Florida where they would have more opportunities to compete.
In spite of all the odds, Richard Williams, the critical force behind Venus and Serena’s success, finally proved to the world that his girls were everything he set them up to be and they are still crushing it in the world of tennis while his mantra, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” has been the strongest factor in their continued success. Will Smith’s role as Richard Williams, the infamous father of tennis champs Venus and Serena Williams, shows us once again, the powerful range and endearing qualities of a man who had a load of confidence alongside a deep immersion into his character. Knowing that Venus and Serena are executive producers alongside director Reinaldo Marcus Green, only proves they are still in alignment with the unorthodox training that catapulted them into the millionaires they are today and world-class leaders they are in their sport. While many still don’t agree with his methods, they cannot argue about the legacy that was built on tennis balls and pipe dreams!
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