“King Richard” is a noble title for a movie about a man who raised tennis royalty.
The film focuses on Richard Williams as the force behind the Williams sisters. However, a more appropriate title for Richard might be founder and CEO.
Although many tennis fathers made headlines long before Venus and Serena arrived in the sport, Richard may have been the first to take the business approach to his daughter’s careers. Before Venus and Serena were born, Richard developed a 75-page business plan and took his venture from incubation to a global sensation.
“The truth was I had created a company before they were born called Richard Williams Tennis Associates, which I still own, and had saved $810,000 which was all in the bank,” Williams wrote in his autobiography, Black and White, the Way I See it. “I paid my own kids’ way through tennis. I didn’t want anyone to help me. I could have gotten sponsors, but Venus and Serena were my children, so it was my responsibility to pay for them. I never had to take one penny from anyone.”
Richard’s business plan included a list of rules, keys to success. He believed that confidence is essential to success and that faith is crucial to confidence. He guarded his girls’ strong sense of self.
In 1995, Richard shut down an interview between Venus and a sports reporter who questioned her confidence. The reporter quizzed Venus about her chances against an upcoming opponent. Venus stated, without a doubt, that she could beat this higher-ranked player. The reporter asked why? Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Richard stormed onto the set and rebuked the reporter for questioning Venus’ confidence.
“You’ve got to understand that you’re dealing with the image of a 14-year-old child,” he said. “And this child gonna’ be out there playing when your old ass and me gonna’ be in the grave. When she say something, we done told you what’s happening. You’re dealing with a little Black kid, and let her be a kid! She done answered it with a lot of confidence, leave that alone!”
Another rule in Richard’s manifesto was “always have a plan B.” Whether on or off the court, Richard wanted Venus and Serena to have a backup plan.
Early in their careers, Venus and Serena were criticized for pursuing what some saw as frivolous interests in fashion and television. Yet, serial entrepreneurs like their father, Venus and Serena appear to have plans B through D.
Venus and Serena own fashion companies and are investors in other business ventures. Venus earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Indiana University East and owns a successful interior design firm. Serena launched a jewelry line sold at Zales. Venus and Serena have a minority stake in the Miami Dolphins and are executive producers of “King Richard,” which is receiving early Oscar buzz.
Perhaps the truest testament to a business’s success is whether others can replicate it.
In this case, Richard’s plan proves solid. Leonard Francois, father of four-time Major champion Naomi Osaka, followed Richard’s plan to raise champions. Francois used Richard’s blueprint to train Naomi and her older sister, Mari Osaka, who had a brief WTA tour career.
“My dad studied the Williams sisters and their dad, Richard. He describes Richard’s method as the “blueprint” to our success. Everything we did was inspired by them,” Osaka wrote in a guest column for the Telegraph.
Cori “CoCo,” Gauff, is the youngest player in the WTA’s Top 20. Her father, Corey Gauff, followed Richard’s plan too.
“We hadn’t seen many African American women in the sport, so when (Venus and Serena) started winning and having success and trailblazing, some of the challenges that they went through made it a lot easier to get into the sport,” Corey Gauff said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “And it allowed us to be a lot more confident about choosing tennis.”
Like Richard, Corey started as Coco’s coach and his wife, Candi Gauff, headed up homeschooling, just as Venus and Serena’s mom Oracene Price had done.
Jorge Fernandez, father of Leylah Fernandez, runner-up at the 2021 US Open, told Canadian Broadcasting Company that he studied how Richard trained Venus and Serena.
“One of the things (with Richard) was the simplification of the sport,” Jorge said. “I think great salespeople have a way to simplify complexity and just focus on the assets that are going to get you where they’re going to get you. He focused on their power. “
Realizing his daughter would not possess the physical attributes of Venus or Serena, Fernandez said he followed Richard’s blueprint and simplified things for Leylah, focusing on “finesse, mental toughness, and speed. A lot of precision tennis, and every now and again, a knockout punch,” said Jorge.
Among active players, Serena, Venus and Osaka hold the most Major titles and have amassed over $160 million in career earnings combined. This means the top three are all products of Richard’s highly successful and profitable business plan.
In the business world, a CEO with that type of success could command $10 million bonuses and a seat on board of a Fortune 500 company.
Richard’s impact on the success of others is one of the reasons Ahmed Sule, a British writer, photojournalist, and social critic, believes Richard belongs in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Richard and Oracene were inducted into the American Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 2017. However, they haven’t been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, tennis’ Canton.
Sule nominated Oracene and Richard in 2020. When they did not make the ballot last year, Sule penned an open letter to the ITHO.
“We would like to see Richard Williams and Oracene Price inducted into the Class of 2022 International Tennis Hall of Fame. This shouldn’t be a difficult task; after all, they ought to have been inducted years ago.”
Although Richard was the dominant figure in their careers, Price played an important role behind the scenes.
During interviews to promote the movie, Venus and Serena reminded people of their mother’s role in their success. In fact, in a “Red Table Talk,” interview, Serena told Will Smith that “My dad at one point was working and then, he stopped…He’s like, ‘This is what we’re going to do. I’m not going to have a job. I’m gonna go with Venus and Serena, and train them every day.’ Now that would be impossible for me if my husband were to tell me that.”
Still, Richard developed and implemented the plan.
In an article in Entertainment Weekly, Andrew Lawrence wrote of the movie, “The finished product, if not another Richard Williams home movie, feels like an instructional video on how to build a future sports great: the tennis version of the Apollo 11 mission. “
In the film, Will Smith utters the line, “I’m in the champion-raising business.”
Considering the accomplishments amassed by Venus, Serena, Osaka, Gauff and Fernadez, for King Richard, business is good.
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“King Richard,” starring Will Smith, opens today in theaters and on HBO Max.
