"We were literally brainwashed to become No. 1" - Venus & Serena Williams' ex-coach Rick Macci opens up about his relationship with duo

Rick Macci, the first coach chosen by Richard Williams for his daughters, Venus and Serena Williams, recently revealed how his relationship with the legendary duo has evolved over the years. When Venus Williams was ten years old and her sister Serena Williams was nine, their whole family relocated from Compton, California, to West Palm Beach, Florida. They began their training here, under Macci's supervision.

The sisters first practiced together with Macci in 1991. However, in 1995, Richard took over full coaching responsibilities for them and stopped sending them to the academy.

In 2021, the film 'King Richard' was released, which depicted the journey of the Williams sisters' father in transforming the young girls into two tennis legends. It also demonstrated how Macci played a key role in their careers.

Rick Macci recently appeared on the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast, where he recalled meeting Venus and Serena Williams at the movie's after-party and how they all had a great time going down memory lane.

"It's amazing. You gotta remember. When they were nine to 15, they were looking at the game through a different lense, through Richard's eyes or Oracene's eyes or Rick Macci's eyes, and they were little kids. So, when we reunited at the afterparty, it was incredible simply because we went down the memory lane," he said.

"I literally had Serena on the ground crying, their stories. She was a handful, she was a little prankster. Even though she will go down as the greatest female tennis player ever to hold a racquet, you gotta understand. And some of these stories, I have done so many podcasts since the movie. I told them people are just blown away," he added.

Rick Macci then revealed that both Venus and Serena Williams told him that they were brainwashed into becoming World No. 1 players.

He recalled how the 23-time Grand Slam winner was not a particularly good player when she was 10 and how he would always use the examples of tennis legends like Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Jennifer Capriati to motivate her.

"They both said 'Rick, we were literally brainwashed to become No. 1' and that maybe can work if you have the speed, the quickness and the right coaching but I never talked to either of them and we talked about this even when they were 10 and 11 and Serena was not really that good," the veteran coach said.

"I have probably ten thousand parents see that video and say 'My kid is better than that', but they did not see what was under the hood and where this could go like coaches kinda project and I always would say 'Steffi would get that, Martina would get that, Capriati, that is not gonna work against her'. I was not talking about 12-year-olds, it was always the future and that is kinda how I build a player," he added.

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A look into Venus and Serena Williams' tennis achievements

Serena Williams and Venus Williams pictured at the US Open 2022

Serena Williams had a spectacular career that spanned more than two decades.

The American has the most Grand Slam singles titles of any female player in the Open era (23), one more than Steffi Graf and one less than Margaret Court, who won 24 Majors, but 13 of them came when only amateurs were allowed.

Williams even held the World No. 1 ranking for 319 weeks, 186 of which were consecutive, finishing the year in the top spot five times. She is also the only player in history to have completed a career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles.

Venus Williams, on the other hand, has seven Major titles to her name and has held the World No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, demonstrating her immense talent.

As a dynamic duo, the siblings captured 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together. They clinched three Olympic gold medals, with Serena Williams also earning a singles gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

While Serena Williams drew the curtain on her career at the 2022 US Open after getting knocked out in the opening round, her elder sister is still an active figure who has announced no plans of retirement as of yet.

Venus Williams' most recent WTA Tour appearance came at the recently concluded US Open, where she was defeated in the first round by Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen.