With many world title tennis events happening, whether that be the US Open, which happened in late August, or other tournaments happening now, the movie that I decided to review is based on some of the best women tennis players to date, Serena and Venus Williams. That film is called King Richard, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green.
Going into this movie, I honestly had no idea what to expect. However, I was a bit skeptical about how they were going to do it from the Williams sisters’ dad’s point of view, Richard Williams. Many of these types of movies are usually from the athlete’s point of view, not someone else, let alone a father’s point of view. Now, walking away from this movie, I understand why it was from his point of view, not his daughters.
One reason I loved it from Richard’s point of view was that we could see the struggle that the family as a whole goes through, not just the athletes. We see the sacrifices that Richard has to make for Venus to get the training she needs to go pro, such as figuring out money situations. I also love how we can understand why he made some decisions of letting the girls be kids like go to school rather than force them into constantly practicing to the point of burnout.
Throughout the movie, we also see the racial struggle that they have to face. Due to tennis being a predominantly white sport at the time when the girls were just starting, there were many moments when they were outcasts. One moment in particular that displayed this and left me feeling a bit disgusted was when Venus and Serena were playing in a tournament. However, in this tournament, they were the only people of color. Although I had a feeling of what was about to happen, I still kept a sliver of hope that they would be treated the same, but that little bit of hope was swiped away by how the father of the opponent that was facing Venus treated Venus and her family.
However, when watching this movie, there was one thing in particular that I found quite interesting with what Richard displayed within his children. I loved how he made sure that they stayed humbled no matter what. Along with humility, he also showed how, in this world, even though you might not be treated equally, you should always keep your head up no matter what happens and always be the bigger person.
I saw this toward the end when they left the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland. This was displayed when they told Venus to stay proud even though her opponent didn’t play fairly because of the act of gamesmanship of going to the restroom for an extended period of time.
Even though at first I had many doubts about this movie and the direction it would be going in due to the point of view, I can confidently say that, as an athlete myself, families—parents in particular—sacrifice so much for their child’s dreams. The way that Richard did this while also making sure his daughters stayed humbled and aware of life will always make me think of how my parents have worked so hard to do the same for me, both physically and mentally. Now, looking back on this movie and at recent tennis matches, it is so beautiful to see all the different types of representations for young girls across the world, like 19-year-old Coco Gauff winning the US Open, to show that anyone, no matter the circumstances, can do it if you put your mind to it.
