A generation of young black tennis players can play unburdened partly due to the path beaten by the Williams sisters

Cori Gauff, right, greets Venus Williams at the end of their match on Monday. Photograph: Tim Ireland/AP

Twenty-two years ago in Indian Wells, a 16-year-old Venus Williams, still ranked only 211th in the world, was reeling from a brutal loss to Lindsay Davenport when she was asked about the impact she had already left on young black women in tennis. “I think that I’ve had a good effect,” she said. “Generally, you don’t see too many black people playing tennis, not on the tour, not anywhere you go really. It’s mostly because tennis is kind of an expensive sport at times … I think I’ve really helped bring it. If they see me on TV [they say]: ‘Who is this? This is Venus? She plays tennis? I’ve never seen a [black] girl playing tennis.’”

In the decades since, Williams and her sister Serena have seen a talented generation of black women players emerge, even if Venus has sometimes suffered at their hands. She has lost to Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka in recent years. On Monday afternoon, Williams faced the latest player she has influenced, Cori Gauff. The 15-year-old promptly dismantled her 6-4, 6-4. Gauff’s story was almost too good to be true: a teenager beating her hero in her grand slam debut. Her serve is already lethal, while her hooked topspin forehand and her backhand tore through the Wimbledon grass. But the most impressive thing about Gauff was the composure and intelligence with which she carried herself to victory.
The fact that Gauff conducts herself with such ease is partly due to the path beaten by the Williams sisters. Their presence was always political, their success always told in the context of two black girls infiltrating a country club sport. It began more than two decades ago when the Williams arrived on tour with a single-minded confidence that, coupled with the bravado of their father Richard, elicited hostility and resentment.

In Venus’s first US Open her semi-final opponent, Irina Spirlea, deliberately bumped into her as they changed ends. Afterwards, Spirlea snapped: “She thinks she’s the fucking Venus Williams.” Both Williams sisters boycotted Indian Wells – Venus for 15 years, Serena for 14 – after the racist insults they received from the crowd in 2001. They have even had to defend themselves against their own competitors: “Being black only helps them,” said Martina Hingis to Time 2001. “Many times they get sponsors because they are black.”
Venus and Serena Williams were hailed as future stars from an early age. Photograph: Paul Harris/Getty Images
Venus is widely considered the more mellow of the two, but when they arrived on tour it was the elder Williams who radiated swagger and confidence. She set the tone, dashing around the court at warp speed, chest puffed out. She had to. She was first of the two to turn professional and she willingly absorbed the first blows that the world swung at them. Her presence allowed her younger sister to thrive, while rivals resented her for it. “Serena’s more friendly,” said Davenport in the 2000 book Venus Envy. “At least she can bring herself to say hi. Venus can’t – or won’t – even speak. Venus likes to give the impression that she’s so great, that she’s ‘Da bomb’, or whatever.”

When Venus was 14, just a few months younger than Gauff is now, she showed early signs of her confidence, telling ABC that she was ready to beat the world’s best players. The interviewer tilted his head and frowned, puzzled by her audacity: “You say it so easily. Why?”  Read More>>