A great way to end the 2009 tennis season

November 2nd, 2009

Serena ends the year by beating her sister at a showdown in Doha

Women’s tennis champion Serena Williams ended the 2009 season in grand style on Sunday, beating her big sister Venus in Doha, Qatar, in the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships final. It was great game to watch and perhaps the most exciting moment was witnessing the handover of a giant sized check for the amount of $1,550,000 to Serena. I have to say that I admired Serena at that moment. She is truly a great athlete. “It’s great,” she said, “I didn’t expect to win.”

The Williams sisters

The two Williams sisters, Venus, aged 29 and Serena, aged 28, have both been World No. 1 tennis players and multi-grand slam winners over the past decade. They are coached by their father, Richard Williams, a rugged looking man of 67. Williams was ambitious and wanted a better future for his five daughters and wanted at least one of them to succeed in sports. He started off by taking them to public tennis courts and entered them in California tennis tournaments. In 1995 Richard began coaching his girls himself.

Remarkable story

The story and the success on the tennis courts of these two women is quite remarkable. When Richard Williams decided to improve the family’s lot and teach his daughters to play tennis, he could have had no idea of what was in store for them and for himself and for the family. What a stroke of luck or was it great planning? Both women developed into first class athletes and sportswomen, they have wrecked the dreams of many of their opponents, and they are part of the world’s elite sports community, recognized and cheered wherever they go. And then there’s the money…

It doesn’t always work

I know a man who decided to make a tennis player out of his son, and spent a sizeable fortune on coaching schools and trainers. The son developed into a mediocre tennis player and for some years made a modest living on the circuit. He never made it to the top echelon of players for the simple reason that he was not cut out to be a great athlete or tennis player.

The winnings

At last count their winnings are: Venus – $24 million and Serena – $26.5 million. Those amounts are what they have won to date on the courts playing tennis. It does not include other income from advertising, endorsements, TV appearances and other sources off the court. There is no mention of who looks after the money or whether Richard does this himself, but it is a family fortune that must be generating a tidy income.

The money in sports

The winnings get higher and higher, the publicity greater than ever. Who hasn’t seen the full page adverts featuring Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova with their Rolex watches?

Think twice

If your son or daughter displays the signs of sports greatness, don’t wait, start the training now!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 6:45 am and is filed under Personal / Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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