Serena Williams’ former coach Rick Macci recently stated that his student was underrated by tennis lovers. Macci coached Williams in her younger days before she took up the sport professionally in 1995. He also coached her elder sister Venus.

2021 Australian Open: Day 5

Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam titles.

Serena Williams retired from tennis in September 2022 after winning a staggering 23 Grand Slam singles tournaments and as many WTA 1000 titles. She won the year-end championships five times and also won a gold medal at the Olympics.

Rick Macci, however, feels that she is underrated despite earning laurels at the greatest stages in the sport. In a recent episode of the Match Point Canada podcast, Macci said:

“Serena could have had 30 Grand Slams if she would’ve played all the tournaments, wouldn’t have taken time off, wouldn’t have injuries but I think that’s irrelevant. People don’t realize how good Serena was. She checked every box and she added a few more”

Macci commended Serena Williams’ serving ability saying:

“She’s amazing, the best serve ever. People don’t understand, in one match she hit 21 aces, when was the last time you could say that about a female tennis player? They don’t realize how good her serve was.”

Macci further listed the other qualities the 23-time Grand Slam champion possessed. Macci stated:

“She’s the best athlete to ever hold a racket and maybe one of the best female athletes of all time. Big, strong, fast, quick, flexible, could do the splits. She also knew where you were going to hit the ball before you did. She had the rage inside, she gave me that look even at 10 years old. She had all the time in the world”

“It took longer for Serena Williams to mature than Venus Williams” – Rick Macci

Venus Williams (L) and Serena Williams.

Rick Macci also talked about measuring Serena Williams’ potential at an early age. He said:

“When she was 11, people would look at me like ‘What’s that mean?’, and I said ‘That just means championship quality at the highest level on top of everything’.”

Macci, however, highlighted that Williams was naive as a kid and questioned his instructions. He stated that she took more time to wise up as compared to her elder sister Venus.

“I could see this at a young age but mentally as a kid, she wasn’t like Venus. It took longer [than Venus] for her to mature. I’d say ‘Run!’, she’d go ‘Why?’. Sometimes it would be those conversations. I liked how she was wired so that’s the wildcard,” he concluded.

Venus Williams and Father Richard recall one match that 7-time Grand Slam champion “should have won”