‘A boy, revving engine and broken glass’- Rick Macci narrates incredible “Chevy 67” anecdote about training Venus Williams
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Serena and Venus Williams
Serena and Venus Williams dominated women’s tennis for almost two decades. The Williams sisters have paved the way for many young girls to join the sport and have been true role models. They share a whopping 30 singles grand slams between them and are probably one of the most decorated sisters duos in all of sports.
Though age seems to have caught up with both the sisters in recent times, with Venus being out of form for a long time and even Serena struggling over the last year with injuries, the Williams sisters are still one of the most powerful duos in the world of tennis.
Williams sisters’ coach reveals demanding coaching methods when young
In their younger days, coaches Rick Macci and Richard Willams played a huge part in where the sisters stand today, with the two coming up with unique methods to train the Williams sisters to withstand any circumstance while playing on-court.
Among all the stories, Rick Macci today revealed an anecdote called “Chevy 57’” on his YouTube channel. Macci started the story by setting the scene, saying that Richard had a 57 chevy and he pulled it up by court 13 and asked him if he wanted to cheat Venus today. Richard then proposes to let Venus play against a boy, wanting her daughter to lose heavily, even asking the young 16-year-old boy to cheat in the match.
“Let her play a boy, 17, I want her to lose 6-0. Tell the guy if the ball hits the line I want the guy to cheat her on purpose.”
Richard then added yet more distraction for poor young Venus, parking his car up just beside the car and revving the engine loudly with the hood open. He also started throwing beer bottles so that Venus can’t get away from the baseline
“They go to court 13 and before it starts, Richard pulls his car right up next to court not even in a parking lot. He parks on the grass. He lifts the hood up because he keeps his foot on the gas revving the engine. He (Richard) turns the music on. It’s so loud it’s interfering with the whole academy. He takes, like six Budweiser beer bottles, throws them on the back of the court, not on the court and he says ‘V, Don’t back up. Rick wants you to stay near that baseline you keep going forward. You back up you’re going to get cut.”
Though Venus got absolutely smashed in the match, with the loud engine revving and glasses breaking, Richard had no sympathy for his daughter and was yelling at her all through the match.
“Breaks broken glass there, he’s having someone cheat her on purpose. The music is full blast. They play a match, it’s like 6-0,6-0. She’s tossing a ball up, he’s going, “hey, VW’. HE’s yelling at her and it’s like, craziness.”
However, despite being astonished at that time, Macci revealed that over the years he understood Richard’s intentions, and went on to appreciate his methods. Richard’s intention was to make both the sisters very tough by putting them under immense pressure.
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