Serena: I won’t be tennis mom
When Serena Williams gave birth to her daughter Olympia last year, many tennis fans hoped for a second coming of Serena. But Serena surprised journalists and fans at Wimbledon by saying she hopes baby Olympia won’t grow up to be a pro tennis player.
Here are excerpts from her presser:
Q: If Olympia wants to play tennis, will you coach her or asking Auntie Venus to coach her?
SERENA: No, I would hope she doesn’t play tennis. Yeah, I know.
Venus said she would coach her, she just didn’t want to travel. She said that, like, yesterday or the day before. I’ll coach her, but I don’t want to travel.
I’m like, Okay, you’re thinking way far in advance. Olympia is not playing tennis, unless of course she wants to. Then I’m going to help her. But I’m not sure if I’m a great coach. I could be a good mental coach. In terms of a tennis coach, I don’t know if I — clearly I don’t know if I have patience.
Q. What sports would you like her to play?
SERENA: I don’t know yet. I think it will be interesting to see what she gravitates to. I really don’t know. Ice skating could be fun. She’ll probably be really tall, so… Yeah, I don’t know.
Q. Why wouldn’t you want her to play tennis? What are your thoughts about the sacrifices your parents made? Maybe now that you’re a parent, you see it differently.
SERENA: I saw it differently years ago. I don’t understand how they did it. I could not go out, as much as I love her, I don’t think I could do it every single day what my dad did. I don’t think I could do that.
Then what my mom did… I don’t know. I actually would not be able to do that. So I’m so grateful to have my parents. I look back, and I want to do even better to just thank them because they were so selfless and, wow, just amazing. It’s crazy.
Q. Why not tennis?
SERENA: Oh, uhm, I don’t know. It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot. Plus, I mean, I don’t want her to have pressure from what I did, you guys talking about, Are you going to be able to do as good as your mom? I don’t want her to have that.
(words and images copyright Christopher Johnson Globalite Media all rights reserved)
