King Richard ends before Venus and Serena Williams’ professional careers truly began, eventually breaking records and boundaries in the women’s game.
The 2021 award-winning biopic King Richard focuses on Venus and Serena William, two of the most legendary players in tennis history, and how their father and coach, Richard, helped make them who they are today. King Richard tells the true story of the beginning of Venus and Serena’s careers, but there’s a lot that was left out in the film. King Richard ends with Venus’ first professional tennis match at 14 years old. It was a disappointing loss against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who won the 1994 Bank of the West Classic after beating Venus in the tournament’s second round.
Venus and Serena are young girls in King Richard, with the film showing their early days on the tennis courts in their hometown of Compton to their move to Florida to train with Rick Macci. Though Venus and Serena played great supporting roles in the film, King Richard was ultimately their father’s story and Will Smith’s movie. King Richard’s end credits feature title cards with Venus and Serena’s stats and real-life footage of the sisters. Still, there’s much more that could be explored through Serena’s King Richard trilogy plan.
When Serena Williams first turned pro in October 1995 at the age of 15, she was hiding in her sister Venus’ shadow. At just 15 months younger than Venus, she seemed destined to trail behind her for the rest of her career. However, Richard Williams always maintained that she’d one day be better than Venus, and he was right. Four years after turning professional, Serena Williams won her first major singles title at the 1999 US Open. In 2003, she achieved a Career Grand Slam and a non-calendar year Grand Slam, which is now known as a “Serena Slam.”
Serena Williams holds many records in her career. Her 23 Grand Slam women’s singles titles are the most won in the Open Era of tennis, which began in 1968 when the tournament began to allow amateurs to compete, and the second-most of all time, second only to Margaret Court’s 24. Serena also holds a joint record for the most consecutive weeks ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association at 186. Serena has four Olympic gold medals, and before her retirement at 41, she earned the most major women’s singles titles by a woman over 30.
Venus Williams will forever be known as a trailblazer in women’s tennis, creating a path for Black female tennis players including her sister Serena, Sloane Stephens, Coco Gauff, and more. Though her professional career might have started with a loss as portrayed in King Richard, she has been extremely successful since. Venus won the Wimbledon and US Open titles in 2000 and 2001 and was ranked No. 1 in 2002, becoming the first African American woman to do so in the Open Era. Following injuries, Venus returned with back-to-back Wimbledon wins in 2007 and 2008.
Venus holds the record for most Open Era Grand Slam appearances at 93 and has won seven singles major titles and four Olympic medals. Venus also has the most WTA Tour singles titles among active titles with 49. An additional 22 WTA doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles bring her to 73 in total. Off the court, Venus fought for men’s and women’s tennis players to be paid equally throughout all rounds at the French Open and Wimbledon. In 2007, Venus became the first woman to win the same amount as the male winner at Wimbledon.
The Williams sisters are the most dominant doubles team in women’s tennis history, winning 22 titles together. They have also been rivals in singles, having met 31 times, with Serena winning the majority of their matches at 19 wins to Venus’ 12. Together, Venus and Serena are 14-0 in Grand Slam tournaments, having never lost in a final. They also earned three gold medals together at the 2000, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics. Venus and Serena won their last major doubles title as partners at 2016 Wimbledon.
In 2018, the Williams sisters took a break from playing doubles together. They returned to the courts together in 2022 at the US Open, which would ultimately become their final tournament together. The Williams sisters faced both racism and sexism throughout their careers but persevered both on and off the courts to etch their names in tennis history. While King Richard succeeds in portraying the Williams sisters’ origin stories, sequel films could help give their careers the shine they deserve.
