Serena Williams' childhood coach identifies Serena's ability that 'spells greatness'

09/19/2023 01:00 AM

Coach Rick Macci says Serena Williams had "an unbelievable ability" to read what her opponent was going to do even before her opponent would make the decision. Williams, a former 23-time Grand Slam champion, is widely regarded as one the greatest players and one of the most dominant players ever seen in the women's game. Numerous times over the course of her astonishing career, Williams would make the right decision and come up big in the most important moments. Macci, who coached Serena and Venus Williams in their childhood, thinks he knows well why Serena went down as one of the greatest players in tennis history. 

“Absolutely, I think you know when you say the best athlete, okay, is that from the neck down or from the head down? Or do we describe an athlete. So I think he had the speed, the quickness, the agility, the anticipation. Remember, Serena knew where you were gonna to hit before you did. That’s what spells greatness at the ultimate level. So I agree with Federer about the athleticism because if you can’t move you know have a serve like Roddick if you wanna have a shot coz of you can move, play offense, defense you have options but that is the wild card but it’s a moving efficiently. Listen, I have people who aren’t super quick or super fast but their anticipation skills are unbelievable. They know where you’re going to hit it just by where the ball lands, how you’re running, the angle of your racket. So a lot of this can be taught but if it’s already baked in that’s a great thing to work from and that’s kinda one of the things I saw with Serena. So I grew with Federer but it is a package, then you gotta deliver the goods under pressure and that separates great from good," Macci said on the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast, via Sportskeeda.