Serena Williams gets real on ‘negativity’ she faced just for being Black player

Serena Williams says she dealt with negativity only because she was a Black player, but also adds that things have changed for the better as Black players nowadays do not have to deal with the stuff that she used to.

In 1999, Williams was just 17 when she became a Grand Slam champion at the US Open. But then, two years later, the American went through a traumatic experience while competing at a home tournament in Indian Wells. While the home player won the Indian Wells title this year, she suffered racist chants – which left her vividly crying for hours in the locker room after one of her matches – and she made a decision to boycott the tournament.

“Growing up and being Black in tennis, it’s just like, well, that comes with negativity… You have something mean to say, get in line. You got to go way back. It’s going to take you a few days to get there. Join the crowd. I don’t hear the noise. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. How am I going to sit here and change someone’s thought? If [you] don’t like me, you don’t have to,” Williams told Porter.

Williams: No one is calling these girls the way I was called

While Williams boycotted the Indian Wells tournament for 14 years, she kept dominating on the biggest stage and doing great things for American tennis. In the end, she finished with 23 Grand Slams – won four Olympic gold medals – and spent a total of 319 weeks at the world No. 1 spot.

Over the years, numerous Black players have credited the American tennis icon as the one who “paved a way” for them to be successful in tennis.

“It’s changed. No one’s calling these girls the [things] I was called. People would say we were like men and all this other stuff,” Williams stated.