When you see a based on a true story movie like King Richard—which follows Richard Williams’s journey raising his daughters, Venus and Serena, from Compton, California to tennis superstardom—you usually assume the character portrayals are a little hyperbolized. A few extra quips, more tears, the Hollywood of it all. At least I do. So when I talked to Rick Macci, the tennis coach who helped prep Venus and Serena for the pros, I expected him to be a bit more muted than his fictional counterpart, played by Jon Bernthal—who wears short shorts and wails “BANG!” whenever he can. Not exactly.”I’m on the court all day today—I have 10 hours of lessons,” the 66-year-old Macci says over Zoom. “But it actually rained, so it worked out good.” Macci, by my immediate estimation, is going stronger than his bowl-cutted Hollywoodization. He gets up at 3:30 a.m. every morning. More often than not, the man refers to himself in the third person. Not only is 10 hours of lessons an average day for Macci, but he pulls those hours seven days a week. It’s worked: If you’re keeping track at home, Macci has coached the likes of Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, and Jennifer Capriati. An average tweet nowadays from @RickMacci reads, “Little Venus. Macci Magic. That little kid is amazing on and off the screen! BANG!” And 30 years after Macci met the Williams sisters? He has a razor-sharp memory spanning every prank from Serena, to the night Richard Williams called and said… Click below to read the full story from Esquire
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Rick Macci Coached Venus and Serena Williams For Years. He Told Us What King Richard Left Out
