“I hit daddy in b**t…he was mad” – Serena Williams recalls how she sabotaged sister Venus to avoid father’s anger over violating tennis etiquette


Venus Williams(left) and Serena Williams(right). Image:Getty

Venus and Serena Williams recalled a hilarious childhood incident while talking about their practice days with father Richard Williams. The 23-time Grand Slam champion was a young girl at the time and was practicing when one of her serves hit her father “in the b**t”. She was flustered and blamed her sister to avoid facing her father.

Venus and Serena Williams dropped the second episode of their podcast ‘Stockton Street‘ on Tuesday, October 1.

While talking about their time on the practice courts of Compton and being coached by their father, Serena Williams remembered the incident.

“Remember when I served and hit daddy in the butt? I fired and then he tuned around “who hit me?” and I said you did. I said “She did it.””

The 7-time Grand Slam champion was in stitches as she interjected:

“No I didn’t.”

Serena continued:

“You were like no and I was like you did it. I was horrible.”

The conversation went back and forth with the sisters describing the incident and bursting in laughter.

“And he was so upset that he just let it go. He was so mad. In tennis the etiquette is that if the ball is coming towards someone, you say “ball! ball!” like heads up so then they’re [prepared],” said Venus.

“The reason that it was believable…” said Serena.

“Yes because I was serving to that side,” completed Venus.

“You were on that side and I fired a ball at him. So it made sense to me and probably to him that it was you,” said Serena.

Both the Williams sisters often credit their father for shaping their careers and instilling values like resilience in them that went beyond the tennis court. While Serena Williams hung up her racket at the 2022 US Open, Venus Williams previous outing was at the 2025 US Open where she competed in singles, doubles and mixed doubles format of the game.

Serena Williams hailed her father’s determination to keep the family together and being “way before his time”


Venus Williams(left) Richard Williams(center) and Serena Williams(right)

Serena Williams hailed her father Richard Williams’ influence on her and sister Venus Williams on and off the court in 2021 before the release of his biopic King Richards.

In an interview with GQ magazine at the time, the former World No. 1 opened up about the challenges of being “different” from other tennis players, likely referring to their African-American roots.

“You see, when someone is different—when they don’t act or look how a person assumed they would—the first reaction is often fear. They think, How do we break them?” My dad anticipated that, but he would not allow himself or his family to be broken. He was and still is way before his time,” she said.

Richard Williams taught himself to play tennis and coached his daughters till they eventually received professional training from Rick Macci. He also designed an 85-page plan, made famous by the movie, to turn them into champions.