Serena Williams makes deeply honest confession about her early-career insecurities

© Serena Williams/X – Fair Use

Serena Williams made quite a confession on the second episode of her podcast hosted with Venus as the former 23-time Grand Slam champion revealed she once thought she wouldn’t be that good or be able to legitimately challenge the top players.

After premiering their podcast named Stockton Street, Serena uploaded the latest episode of the podcast on her X account. During one segment, the 44-year-old opened up about the time she didn’t have much belief or confidence in herself.

“I sucked. I was bad. I didn’t have it. I only hit lobs. Remember, I only hit lobs. I was terrible. I mean, even when I first turned pro, I was really bad. Not that I didn’t, but I just thought I wasn’t that good. I thought I could outlast people because I was small at the time. I thought I could outlast them and just be out there. And yeah, I never really thought about it,” Serena admitted on Stockton Street.

Serena Williams: Even after I picked the US Open to win, I didn’t believe that I would accomplish it

After Richard Williams heard about Serena’s insecurities, he told his daughters to pick a Grand Slam they would win. Venus picked Wimbledon, so Serena was told that she had to pick a different Major to win.

“Then, when dad told us to pick a tournament to win so we could focus on the goal, you picked Wimbledon too. And then he said I needed to pick something different. So I picked the US Open, but I didn’t really think I would make it,” the American tennis icon shared.

Well, it didn’t take long for Serena to convince herself that she definitely had what was required for her to win on the biggest level since she was just 17 when she defeated former world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the 1999 US Open final for her first Grand Slam win. Over the next 18 years, the American added 22 more Grand Slam titles to her collection, and ultimately finished as one of the greatest to have ever played the game.

When it specifically comes to the US Open, Serena Williams enjoyed six triumphs at Flushing Meadows.