Venus Traded Trophies With Serena to Protect Her Little Sister
After a lopsided final on rough courts in Compton, Venus swapped trophies so 9-year-old Serena took home the gold.
Joys of Compounding · Cal Fussman - Compounding Human Connections - [Art of Investing, EP.8]The trophies were still shiny when the older sister gave hers away.
Venus Williams, 10, had just beaten her 9-year-old sister Serena in a youth tournament final in California. Venus held the gold cup for first place. Serena held the silver cup for second.
Cal Fussman, a longtime magazine interviewer who collects lessons from famous lives, tells the story as an example of how much a sister can shape a champion. Their father, Richard Williams, had started both girls on tennis on rough public courts in Compton, a tough neighborhood near Los Angeles, and Venus was already so dominant that other children could barely win a point against her.
Serena was not even supposed to be in that tournament. Her father had told her she was not old enough to play. While Richard watched Venus compete, Serena slipped over to the registration table by herself. The officials knew the family and signed her up without asking for money, and she started winning matches on another court.
Richard noticed Serena was missing and went looking. He found her playing, and Serena thought she had been caught and would be in trouble. Instead, after she won, he went back to the table and officially registered her for the tournament.
Serena kept winning until she met Venus in the final. Venus won easily, taking most of the games and leaving Serena with only a couple, by Fussman's telling about 6-2, 6-1. That final set up the moment Fussman cares about most: the trophy ceremony, where Venus protected her younger sister with a trade.
At the ceremony, Venus looked at Serena and said silver was her favorite color. Venus asked, "Would you mind trading with me?" Serena said yes, and went home with the gold.
In Fussman's reading, Venus was there to protect Serena and stay connected to her. She gave Serena permission to aim as high as she could. That protection, he says, stayed with Serena in all the years of winning that followed.
Questions people ask
Did Venus and Serena go on to become stars?
Yes. Serena Williams won 23 major singles titles, the most in the modern era, and Venus Williams won seven major singles titles. They also won 14 major doubles titles together and several Olympic gold medals.
Who was their father and why did he coach them?
Richard Williams is their father and first coach. He had little money or elite tennis background, but he studied the game, set a long-term plan for his daughters, and coached them on public courts in Compton before they moved to professional training in Florida.
What was unusual about where they learned tennis?
They learned on cracked public courts in a rough part of Compton, California, not private clubs. The family later moved to Florida for better coaching and safer practice conditions, but those early years shaped their tough, powerful style.