“Greatest female athlete of all time?” Rick Macci shockingly reveals why Serena Williams’ retirement announcement wasn’t an emotional affair for him
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Rick Macci and Serena Williams
A FirstSportz exclusive with Serena and Venus Williams’ childhood coach, Rick Macci.
Question– This is big given that you had already coached Jennifer Capriati, who is regarded as the best young player of all time.
She[Jennifer] was the next Chris Evert. Jennifer was amazing but this was totally different it had to be put together. I had to put Humpty-Dumpty together. Jennifer was very good technically and had great preparation. But these are two raw athletes that needed high-level coaching every day and big financial support behind them because let’s face it, from age 10-15, those are the critical years that affect the rest of your life.
Question– Serena Williams retired over a month ago. That must’ve been difficult and emotional for you.
Not really. I’ll tell you why. She only played 7-8 times in the last 2 years. She has had injuries so you could kinda see this coming. She’s so competitive. The most brutal competitor on the women’s side our sport has seen. You gotta be doing this every day and with her platform, her brand, and everything is iconic, still, people aren’t afraid of her anymore, and as you get older and lose a little bit. But again, she was No.1 at age 35 so at the end of the day, I’m happy because she’s happy. I’m glad because she went out on her own terms. It’s not an injury, she won her first grand slam at the US Open and she went out at the US Open with a bang. She went down memory lane and took out the No.2 player in the world. Give me a break! She was taking the ball earlier, she was moving forward, she was performing, she is an artist and she loves her crowd. But day in and day out, as you know, you’ve got to be all in and it’s tough. She’s a mother now, and she has other interests, in my opinion, she’s going down not only as the greatest female tennis player who has held a racket and in my opinion, the greatest female athlete of all time.
The reason- she’s the total package. Big, strong, fast, quick, agile, you saw her do the splits but the Compton street fight- that internal drive inside was like no other and then, she has one of the best serves in the history of tennis. She can play nicely off the ground and there’s no real technical flaw in the way she does things. So she checks every box and in my opinion, she’s on top of Mount Rushmore not because of everything I just said, but when you played Serena Williams, she made you rush even more! I redefined Mount Rushmore there.
“It was an amazing beginning and an incredible ending”: Rick Macci on Serena Williams’ career
Question– She didn’t play so much in the last few years. Last year, she retired in the first round at Wimbledon and it came as a shock when she suddenly announced her comeback and retirement. Do you think she could’ve gone out probably a year ago?
No, I think it’s a hard thing. She said she couldn’t even talk about it because she gets a lump in her throat. You have gotta understand she’s been doing this her whole life and she was on the court for 25 years. She’s going down as the GOAT. You got to understand, these are different people. Nothing against anybody else, Margaret Court, Steffi Graf, everybody is great in their own way but this is a very different person. To be the No.1 or to be the best player in the world, you’ve got to be all in. And hence I think she did it right. The US Open this year became the Serena Williams swansong. It just raises her profile, her brand, and her pedigree and I really believe even though she has done these amazing things, her greatest act is yet to come because she has a platform like no other and I think she has the capability to change many lives throughout the world.
Question– Not many expected Serena to get past the second round especially when she was drawn against World No.2 Anett Kontaveit. But when she defeated her, did you think maybe she could go all the way and win that elite 24th because let us be honest, she deserved to get to 24?
I think a lot of people after that match changed the bar, they probably thought maybe she is a contender but my answer is no. Because to do it mentally- Round 2 was just a moment in time, she had nothing to lose, she raised her game and as I said, she was performing on Broadway. She has 23000 people in her pocket who all loved Serena Williams. It was such an emotional thing for her so I didn’t think that she could still go all the way. There are a lot of other things- mentally and physically. So yeah, I didn’t think that whatsoever but I think she gave the people a blast from the past- a trip back down memory lane when she was cranking aces, taking the early and all.
And to have that confidence without playing many tournaments, this is what I saw at 9 years old. She had all the time in the world because that’s the difference between Serena and Venus. And she knew where you’re gonna hit it before you did and people didn’t know what I meant by those qualities. They both had Compton street fights and both were bulletproof and that’s why I took a chance. At the US Open, it couldn’t have been scripted any better. It was an amazing beginning and an incredible ending.
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Lakshya Chopra
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