EXCLUSIVE: Rick Macci full of praise for Venus Williams’ mental toughness after strong comeback from injury
In an exclusive interview with FirstSportz, Williams' childhood coach Rick Macci praised her for her mental toughness and for producing scintillating performances even at the age of 43.
Rick Macci, Venus Williams (Images via Facebook, WTA)
Former world number one Venus Williams will arrive at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships on Mondy (May 3) after being handed the wildcard. She will kickstart her campaign against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and it will be interesting to see how she performs in the tournament. In an exclusive interview with FirstSportz, Williams’ childhood coach Rick Macci praised her for her mental toughness and for producing scintillating performances even at the age of 43.
The five-time Wimbledon champion has been a long absentee from the tennis tournaments due to the injury she picked up following her defeat against Zhu Lin at the ASB Classic this year. The 43-year-old made her comeback last month at the Hertogenbosch Open only to get beaten in three sets, though, her opponent Celine Naef had to fight hard to clinch the victory 3-6, 7-6(7-3), 6-2.
Williams then secured a sensational win over Camila Giorgi in the first round of the Birmingham Classic 7-6(7-5), 4-6, 7-6(8-6). But her advancement to the quarterfinals stopped when Jelena Ostapenko defeated her in three sets.
Rick Macci recalls Venus Williams’ passion for tennis at the age of 10
Rick Macci recalls the time when he started coaching Venus Williams, stating that she hasn’t changed much even at the age of 43. Macci praised his former student’s mental toughness of her being highly competitive right after the injury.
“For her to come back and be that competitive without any matches just shows you mentally, how unique this young lady is. She has the same Compton street fight I saw back in 1991 when she was 10. There was something different inside this child and it’s still in there at age 42. How much does she have left? Depends on injuries,” Macci said.
“If Serena [Williams] wasn’t going to have a baby, I thought they’d play doubles this year at the US Open. But Venus on grass as you can see, can beat anybody at any time. Nobody is more proud of both Serena and Venus than Rick Macci,” he added.
Meanwhile, as mentioned before, the seven-time Grand Slam champion will be facing Elina Svitolina in the first round. The Ukranian leads the head-to-head against the American 3-1. Their last meeting was at the 2019 US Open where Svitolina won it in straight sets.
In case you missed!
Gouri Das
(4256 Articles Published)