Serena Williams’ ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou shares eye-opening insight into her father Richard’s lofty goals for daughters with fascinating anecdote

Serena Williams’ ex-coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, revealed what the former’s father told him about his lofty aspirations with his two daughters. Williams’ father, Richard, was one of the main individuals during the primary years of the Williams sisters’ tennis career.

Notably, it was also Williams’s father who had pushed both Serena and Venus towards playing tennis and also coached them during their junior years. As things turned out for them, this motivation led to one of the most decorated sibling duos in the history of the sport, with multiple Grand Slam and Olympic medals to their name.

Mouratoglou, who was Williams’ coach for nearly a decade, recently spilled the beans about the mindset of Richard Williams while nourishing his daughters. The French coach shared that Williams’ father had told him that he wanted to instill a system of self-belief and faith in his two daughters.

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Additionally, Williams' father had also asserted to Mouratoglou that his daughters would have been successful irrespective of the fields they chose. Mouratoglou said (via his Instagram handle):

"Richard Williams, way before I started to coach them, and he told me my main focus was to create two young ladies that were believing in themselves. Whatever they would have done, they would have been successful. We chose tennis but if they wanted to be runners or singers or whatever, they would have succeeded because they had this incredible self-esteem."

"This is the masterpiece because why would you do crazy efforts, working crazy hard to achieve something you don't really believe in?" Mouratoglou added further.

Patrick Mouratoglou's stint with Serena Williams between 2012-2022 was spectacularly successful, highlighted by 10 Grand Slam singles titles and a couple of gold medals at the 2012 Olympics.

Patrick Mouratoglou reveals Serena Williams' retirement plans after the 2012 French Open first-round loss

Patrick Mouratoglou recently revealed that Serena Williams had wanted to retire from the sport after her 2012 French Open first-round loss. Williams had lost the match to Virginie Razzano in three sets.

Speaking in a conversation, Mouratoglou stated that Williams had decided to end her career after winning just another Grand Slam title after her lean patch during that time in Grand Slam events, and the first-round loss at the 2012 Roland Garros. He said (via Tennis Channel, 6:00 onwards):

"She lost in the first round of Roland Garros, but also two years without winning a Grand Slam, which is a lot for Serena. She told me, ‘I just want to win one more and potentially end my career’"

Patrick Mouratoglou further added that following this brief stint, Williams came all guns blazing and won several Grand Slam titles in the subsequent months, which derailed the latter's retirement plans.

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About the author

Soumik Bhattacharya

Soumik is a journalist at Sportskeeda who covers US Olympics. Currently an Honors student of Journalism and Mass Communication, he has also worked for other firms as a tennis and football content writer.

Soumik’s favorite Olympian is Michael Phelps and he believes that the eight-time Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer has revolutionized the spectrum of Swimming. Nonetheless, the adrenaline rush that Track & Field sports offer interests him the most; and Neeraj Chopra’s historic gold-medal victory at the 2020 Tokyo Games is his favorite moment from past Olympics.

Soumik sources data and facts from credible sources like BBC and NBC for accurate and relevant reporting, and keeps up with updates on social media and news media platforms.

He feels that covering collegiate tournaments, similar to what is done in the United States can be a good way to cover the bridge the coverage gap during the Olympics off season.

When not reporting on the latest Olympics news stories, Soumik likes to play cricket and watch movies.

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