“I was born with a chip on my shoulder” – Serena Williams gets brutally honest about her ‘mission’ to prove haters wrong after sister Venus’ success

Serena Williams on her Serena Williams on her ‘mission’ to prove haters wrong after sister Venus Williams’ success | Image Source: Getty

Serena Williams and her elder sister Venus Williams debuted their “Stockton Street Podcast” earlier on Wednesday (September 17), where they discussed various topics. The 23-time Major winner’s knack for shutting down her critics came up midway through their conversation, revealing some never-before-heard insights.

Having come up in Compton in the 1990s under the wise eyes of their father Richard, the Williams sisters dominated the WTA Tour in the following decade as they picked up 20 of the 44 Grand Slam tournaments held between the 1999 US Open and 2010 Wimbledon (Serena won 13, Venus won 7).

While Serena Williams was ultimately more successful in the above time period, it was her elder sister who picked up multiple Major titles first. On the first episode of the Stockton Street Podcast, which premiered on X (formerly Twitter) this week, the American legend insisted that the self-imposed pressure to win cultivated her fearless mindset in her early years.

“I feel like, for me, I always had a chip on my shoulder. Since I was born, I was born with a chip on my shoulder. I always just felt like I needed to prove something,” Serena Williams said on the first episode of her podcast. “Because I remember, it always made me want to do more, and want to win. So like, for instance, anyone tell me, ‘No,’ I’ll show you that I can.”

The 43-year-old further attributed a deep cut from R&B legend Whitney Houston to inspiring her to take on the “personal mission” of proving to her naysayers that there could be “two champions in the same family”.

“And actually Whitney Houston sings a song, it says ‘Tell Me No’. And it’s not at all anyway close to her most popular songs at all. So that song really spoke to me,” she added. “When everyone was saying, like, ‘There’s never been two champions [in the same family],’ I took it as a personal mission that I never talked about. I just took it interally, like, ‘Oh no, I’m gonna do this.’”

Venus Williams, meanwhile, also had her own take on how she dealt with negativity from her doubters.

Venus Williams on why she and Serena Williams didn’t fail: “The sport taught us the process”

Venus and Serena Williams pose at Australian Open 2017 ceremony | Image Source: GettyVenus and Serena Williams pose at Australian Open 2017 ceremony | Image Source: Getty

By her own admission on the Stockton Street Podcast, the former World No. 1 felt assured in her game as she and her younger sister Serena were well-versed with the struggles of life through their arduous training. The 45-year-old also admitted that it was always a ‘matter of when’, and not a ‘matter of if’, when it came to whether they would succeed as tennis pros.

“For me, we were so well-trained and I’m a process person, I think. The sport taught us the process. So I knew I could execute what we needed to do on the court because we had trained so hard for it,” Venus Williams said. “So it didn’t bother me, because it didn’t matter, what anyone said. I was ready. It was a matter of time, of getting there, than thinking, ‘Would it happen?’”

Aside from their singles pursuits, Serena Williams and Venus Williams picked up 14 Major titles together in doubles. They also occupy the top two spots in the WTA career prize money leaders list at $94.8 and $42.87 million, respectively.