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‘Black Lives Matter’ In Tennis: Venus Williams’ Father Roasts Reporter In Interview; Watch
An old interview of Venus Williams has resurfaced where father Richard Williams is seen roasting the interviewer for questioning the young girl’s confidence.
Ever since the death of George Floyd in police custody back in May triggered the Black Lives Matter movement all over the world, the tennis community has been quick to pledge their support. Several tennis players took to social media to share their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Players such as Naomi Osaka, Coco Graff and Venus Williams talked about the Black Lives Matter movement, aiming to spread awareness about the issue.
Talking about the Black Lives Matter movement, Venus Williams said that the solidarity shown during the Black Lives Matter movement brought her to tears. In relation to Venus Williams and the Black Lives Matter movement, an old video has resurfaced online which shows when a 14-year-old Williams had her father stand up to her in an interview which got vitriolic.
Serena Williams father defends young Venus Williams during an interview
The video in question is from an interview Venus Williams was a part of, 25 years ago. The interview features correspondent John McKenzie and took place for ABC News Day One in 1995. In the video, the journalist questions Venus Williams’ confidence, to which the young Venus Williams replies “I know I can beat her…I’m very confident,”. The reporter, on the other hand, seems unimpressed by the confidence shown by Venus Williams, questioning her as to why the young player is saying it so easily. When the journalist pesters the young tennis player about her confidence, it is then when Richard Williams, the father of Venus and Serena Williams steps in.
Richard Williams questions the reporter about his doubts regarding her daughter’s confidence. Richard Williams goes on to question why the reporter is repeatedly asking Venus Williams about her confidence, despite her answering the question the first time. When McKenzie tells Williams that he can’t keep interrupting, the father of Venus and Serena Williams teaches the interviewer a bit of a lesson.
This video of Richard Williams defending Venus's confidence when she was 14 yr old is the best video on the internet pic.twitter.com/NqnCRJsLLf
— disco ric (@RicWilson) August 29, 2018
Referring to Venus Williams, Richard Williams roasts the reporter about how he’s dealing with the image of a 14-year-old child. Williams scolds the reporter saying that the child is going to be playing tennis when both he as well as the reporter will be in their graves, referencing to Venus Williams. He then goes on to say that when Venus Williams has said something, she’s done telling what happened. Richard Williams concludes that Venus Williams is a little black kid, and the interviewer should let her be that, asking her to leave Venus Williams alone.
The clip in question has been doing the round for some time now. It has also been reportedly included in a documentary featuring Venus Williams and Serena Williams. Both the Williams sisters have been strong proponents of the Black Lives Matter movement, and their father’s actions show where they got the courage to speak up from.
Novak Djokovic sets another record. Despite the difficult start to the season, the Serbian tennis player retains the top position in the ATP ranking, after a brief spell where he was overtaken by the current world number two, Daniil Medvedev.
The Slam champion spent a total of 367 weeks at the top of the world rankings: he is the player who has spent the most weeks in that position, overtaking Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. Novak Djokovic’s record in ranking is not just about weeks, but also about age.
The Serbian, in fact, became the third oldest player to reach the top 2 of the ATP rankings in the entire Open Era, at the age of 34, 11 months and three days. The world number one thus overtook the Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who was in the top 2 of the ranking up to 34 years and 11 months.
Injuries and long stops did not allow the king of Roland Garros to move up the rankings, but his return can upset the cards on the table. In this special ranking, Djokovic is behind two former world number ones: Ken Rosewall and Roger Federer.
The former Australian tennis player is a difficult goal to achieve: he was number one at 40 years and 7 months. More within reach of the Serbian is his long-time rival, Roger Federer. The Swiss played in the top 2 until the age of 37 years and two months.
The return of the Big 3
The challenge between the Big 3 could come out of the records and the numbers: Djokovic and Nadal will be able to return to play the same tournament after Roland Garros in 2021, where the two met in the semifinals, which ended with the victory of the Serbian.
The tournament of the clash will be Madrid, where both have confirmed their presence. Further away, however, the return of Roger Federer. The Laver Cup could be the competition that marks the return of the former world number one, followed by the ATP in Basel, where he has triumphed on ten occasions.
In these days Djokovic has expressed himself on the controversial story that saw Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian tennis players from the 2022 edition of the Championships, saying how in this way the London Slam board would violate some fundamental rules.
It has been easy to find Serena Williams lately. At awards shows and galas. Starting a venture capital fund. Reveling in the company of her daughter, Olympia. As a pitchwoman for Michelob Ultra and Subway and Chase and DirecTV and migraine pain relief.
But it has not been easy to find her at a tennis match. On June 26, 2021, Williams played on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, the lawn she had spent more than two decades dominating. A few minutes into her first-round match, Williams slipped on the grass and injured her leg. It may simply have been an unfortunate accident. It may have been due to the wear and tear of years and years of tennis—these things happen to bodies of even the most agile among us as we get older. Regardless, afterward, she went nearly a year without playing a professional match.
Which is how it came to be that Wimbledon 2022 experienced its first upset, its first ripple-through-the-field surprise result before the first ball was struck. In mid-June, Serena confirmed she would take a wild-card into the event. She turns 41 in September. Her ranking is 1,204 in the world—1,203 spots off her career-high. Yet, she sent a clear message: I’m not done yet.
How will she fare? If history is any indication, well, who knows? Williams could, conceivably, storm back and win. A tennis article of faith: This is a player you underrate at your peril. Yet, signs indicate the queen’s reign is over—40-year-old athletes don’t take gap years and resume their supremacy. History also suggests (strongly) that Serena dispenses with most formalities and conventions, and is thus likely to forgo a traditional retirement announcement, much less a maudlin retirement tour. Maybe this doubles as a start to a fitting farewell.
Let us then look back at one of the towering athletes—sport and gender be damned—of this generation.
Serena Williams was not yet 17. She had just faced an opponent who looked nothing like her, in front of thousands of fans who looked nothing like her, and now she was facing inquisitors in the U.S. Open media room full of people who looked nothing like her. It was the fall of 1998, when Serena and her older sister, Venus, were still in the alterna-band stage, hardly the full-blown transcendent, transformational rock stars they soon would become.
Former Pussycat Dolls’ singer has been dating Formula One driver for five years; he tells The Sun he’ll propose “maybe before we get to six years”
Nicole Scherzinger might be headed for the altar—sooner rather than later!
The former Pussycat Doll’s longtime boyfriend Lewis Hamilton recently hinted about a possible engagement for the couple.
“We’ve been together for five years, which is quite a milestone really,” the Formula One driver reportedly told The Sun.
And just when does he plan to pop the question? “…hopefully in the near future,” he said. “Maybe before we get to six years.”
We’ll keep our fingers crossed! There have, of course, been rumors before that Nicole, 34, and Lewis, 28, were headed for marriage. Until recently, however, the couple has always denied these reports.
“They came out with some rumor the other day. Everyone was congratulating us, which was hilarious,” Nicole said in a 2011 interview with The Telegraph. “We congratulated each other on our engagement when we weren’t even engaged. ”
“We’re happy where we are right now, which is boyfriend and girlfriend,” she said at the time. “Just really happy.”
“Both of us believe in hard work and determination,” she added. “And both of us really appreciate what we have because of that.”
Nicole also credits her longtime love with helping her get past her battle with bulimia. In an episode of VH1’s Behind the Music that aired in 2012, the singer said Lewis “gave me the courage to kind of end that disorder and that disease.”
“He made me feel beautiful for who I am and not what pant size I’m wearing and that helped a lot,” she said.
Sounds like a keeper! One thing’s for sure: Dating or soon-to-be engaged, these two make for one cute couple.
Coach Patrick Mouratoglou said he didn’t want to end his partnership with Serena Williams on bad terms and he thinks he was pretty fair toward the 23-time Grand Slam champion. Williams, 40, hasn’t played since retiring her Wimbledon first round match last year and nobody knows exactly what the American plans to do next.
In April, Mouratoglou announced he accepted to become the new full-time coach of Simona Halep. “I wanted to be fair to her and not be disappointed at the end of my career,” Mouratoglou said. “I went to ask her what she was going to do.
It wasn’t very clear to her. I asked her if she wanted to go to Roland Garros. She told me she didn’t know. It was six weeks before the tour. I told her I was waiting for her on Monday for training and if she didn’t come I would consider myself free.”
Mouratoglou was out of coaching for nearly a year
Mouratoglou thought he was done with coaching when Williams decided to take a break, but a few months later, he started missing coaching. When Halep made an offer, Mouratoglou badly wanted to return to coaching.
“After Serena decided to take a break, I confessed to my loved ones that I feel like I’m done with coaching,” Mouratoglou said. “I knew that one of my strengths was that I had a lot of enthusiasm for my work.
Without this enthusiasm I can’t be a good coach. I felt like I had lost it.” Halep has been one of the best players on the WTA Tour for the past decade and Mouratoglou thinks she is a great person too. “I think Simona is incredibly generous in everything she does.
She is a generous woman, in the ordinary sense, but also a generous sportswoman in effort. She is not satisfied with half measures. Courage and resilience also characterize her as a person,” Mouratoglou said of Halep.
iF1 ace Sir Lewis Hamilton is reportedly a single man once again, after cooling things off with pal Camila Kendra. The former couple ‘grew close’ last year – with the stunning model even wearing the star’s shirt in Instagram snaps
Sir Lewis Hamilton, 37, has reportedly split from his model girlfriend.
The F1 icon had grown close to Camila Kendra, 28, last year – with fans spotting the Dominican Republic-born beauty posting snaps from inside the driver’s house – but the budding romance is apparently all l.
According to a source, their relationship has ‘cooled off now’ and Camila has even unfollowed Lewis on Instagram.
“She was staying at his home in Colorado and although they had been pals for many years, Camila developed feelings for him and it became more romantic,” they explained to The Sun.
“It’s cooled off now though and Camila is no longer with Lewis. She’s stopped following him on Instagram too.”
They added how friends had thought the two stars would ‘make a great couple’ but they are no longer as close as they once were.
The Mirror has approached representatives for Sir Lewis Hamilton for comment.
Rumours of a romance between Lewis and Camila first began last August, after the stunning model posted pictures from inside his Colorado home.
Eagle-eyed followers on Instagram even noticed how the star donned one of the Mercedes team driver’s plaid shirts for a snap shared online.
Another picture saw the model posing in a bralet and leggings, which one of Lewis’ trophies visible in the background.
At the time, the pair denied a romance – with a source telling The Sun: “They’ve been friends for a few years — that’s why she’s staying at his house and wearing his shirt.”
Seven-time World Drivers’ Championship winner Lewis has dated some of the world’s most famous women over the years.
The sports star’s most famous relationship was his union with Nicole Scherzinger, who he dated on-off for eight years until their split in 2015.
Lewis has spoken about how his career comes first in the past (
Getty Images)
Speaking two years after their break up, Lewis hinted his dedication to his career was one of the reasons for the split.
“My cars are my babies. I used to say, when I had a girlfriend, ‘’I’m taking one of the girls out, so you can come if you want, but you come second when it comes to the cars’,” Lewis confessed in 2017.
Nicole also spoke out about the end of their romance, claiming they had become too ‘comfortable’ within their relationship.
Lewis and Nicole were together on and off between 2007 and 2015 (
Getty Images)
In an interview with People, she said: “Sometimes people stay in relationships because they get complacent, because it’s comfortable for them, because they don’t want to be alone.
“It’s a new chapter in my life. I’m going through a very transformative time in my life.”
Since parting ways with the former Pussycat Dolls singer, Lewis has been linked with several famous women, including Gigi Hadid, Rihanna, Rita Ora and Kendall Jenner.
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