by her. they deserve everything. and i wouldn t be serena if there wasn t venus. for my husband and everyone and their thoughts. once in a lifetime or once in a generation there are certain athletes who come along and they transcend the sport. we saw it with tiger woods. we saw it with michael jordan. serena to me she did that for tennis. she changed wearing your emotions on your sleeve and being who you are. she made it a more welcoming and inviting sport for everyone. she revolutionized it just by being herself. she was so dominant for so long, especially at the most difficult time to be dominant in womens sports and womens tennis. she has never allowed anybody to dictate what she ll say or what she ll do. serena has always played on and off the court on her terms. com e on. hi. so this is from serena s essay she wrote in her book. i never wanted to have to choose between tennis and family. if i were a guy i wouldn t be writing this. because i d be out the
open, and she was so composed. she was so ready for this moment, and the first thing she does is walk over to her family. and this embrace that she gives her mother and her sisters and the way venus is looking at her is arguably one of the most affectionate moments that i ve seen in the sport. i m the first actually black woman to win a major title since gibson and it s really great news. i m doing well, and it s good news for the minorities and just a different group of people. it s great. this is the moment whether they realize it or not of a new era. tennis was brand new, and the people who were in charge, they were two little black girls from compton.
the best journey of my life, and i love it so much. she s become an entirely different person from the time we first met her on a tennis court. venus and serena williams grew up in compton, california. compton, california, probably came to more of a mainstream prominence because of a group called nwa. it was an area that also was, you know, riddled with gang violence and street violence and just kind of a rougher place to