With the recent announcement of the retirement of Serena Williams, it seemed like a good time to watch this. As per its title however it is really about the father of the Williams sisters, Richard, and the beginning of the career of Venus. Richard’s role as the parental figure who planned for and pushed them towards world-beating success is the focus. As far as I can tell, it does an excellent job at being reasonably fair and accurate about the double-edged nature of this kind of intense coaching since childhood. That marks this as a little different from the run-of-the-mill sports biographical film and perhaps worth watching even if you don’t care much for sports.
Father of five daughters, Richard Williams is convinced that two of them, Venus and Serena, are future tennis champions and has created a detailed plan to make it so. He and his wife Brandy coach the two themselves while providing for them and not neglecting their studies. He knows that they need more than that so he tirelessly looks for a professional coach who is able to teach them for free. He barges into a session led by Paul Cohen and the girls impress him though he agrees only to train the older Venus. Under his tutelage, Venus enters and starts winning in the juniors tournaments. When Cohen talks about entering her in more tournaments and getting agents, Richard worries about her being pressured too much and pulls her out of all competition, saying that she will play only when she is ready to be professional. After firing Cohen, Richard manages to get a more famous coach Rick Macci to sign on with them in return for a share of future prize winnings. However he also asks Macci to fund their move from California to Florida and cover all of their expenses.
As both Venus and Serena are listed as this film’s executive producers and signed off on the final cut, I think it’s fair to consider this their version of their childhood story. It is interesting as Serena is the much more prominent athlete today but she is only a minor supporting character here. We can also tell from here how much they really love their father and understand what it is he has done for them, but at the same time are cognizant of his personal flaws and insecurities. On the one hand, he realizes that he needs to get the two a professional coach, yet he still has the bad habit of giving contradictory instructions on the side. He insists that Venus will be a world champion yet fears that too much pressure too early will lead her to burn out. One critical scene has Brandy confronting Richard that he is really holding Venus back out of his own fear that he might be proven to be just another crazy guy with a wildly ambitious plan that doesn’t work.
As my wife notes, ultimately success forgives all sins. The film takes pains to include a scene with a busybody neighbor complaining that the girls’ intense schedule constitutes child abuse to make the case that it is not. Richard vehemently argues that his parenting method ensures that the girls will find success in life later and are kept off the streets. It’s certainly similar to the highly regimented “tiger” parenting that have been the subject of much recent debate and now seems to be the minimum prerequisite for all these child prodigies. While this isn’t child abuse, the pressure on the children raised this way must be immense. In this case Richard’s success vindicated him but there must be countless more children who failed and so their stories were never told. Furthermore, Richard did more than just train them. He endlessly promoted them and talked them up so much so they were known even before they started winning tournaments. This film shows Venus to be even more eager than her father to start competing and Serena being despondent about being left out of training, but I’m not certain they are completely upfront about the downsides of growing up like this.
Anyway this is probably dwelling a little too much on the one aspect of their upbringing that the sisters themselves are most anxious to dispel. As I’ve said many times before, I don’t ordinarily like sports biographies but this is easily one of the better ones and is enjoyable even if you don’t much care for tennis. Its focus on their father as the central figure is interesting and director Reinaldo Marcus Green is smart enough to dial down the manufactured drama and pride that is the downfall of so many other films in the genre.