Ku Klux Klan, beatings and street gangs. But “Papa” Williams did his job

is a sports discipline in which parents have an exceptionally large influence on the development of their children, often being their first coaches. The best examples in Poland are: Robert Radwański, Tomasz Świątek and Piotr Wozniacki. It is the same in the world. Naomi Osaka recently told on Netflix how her father trained her as a child, a few weeks ago her father became Sofia Kenin’s coach, and Denis Shapovalov’s mother helped him take his first steps on the court. The most famous parent in tennis in recent years, however, is certainly Richard Williams. No wonder – he has two daughters who have dominated the world’s courts for years.

Plan for daughters

King Richard: A Victorious Family is a story about Venus and Serena’s father, about his relationship with his daughters. At the outset, we learn that Richard Williams (played by the great Will Smith) has assumed that his two out of five daughters will become the world’s best tennis players. He mentions a plan several times for Venus and Serena. And which he is consistently sticking to all the time.

The girls showed their sports talent from an early age, and the father decided that this was how he would be able to ensure a better future for them. The Williams family lives modestly, lives in a dangerous neighborhood ruled by gangs of thugs. We observe Richard Williams himself being beaten twice, which his wife notes with a short “again”, then brings him a cold compress on his bleeding face.

Although the action of the film takes place in the early 1990s, there are many references to racial segregation (including the name of the Ku Klux Klan organization several times) and the still prevailing inequalities in the United States. It’s hard to shake off the impression that the father of tennis players has set himself a goal to prove that his daughters can be the best in an elite sports discipline dominated – until then – by the children of wealthy white parents. Serena and Venus Williams are played not only as players, but also as representatives of the entire black American community.

Tennis like a springboard to a better world

The film tells a good story of how difficult it is to break into tennis for people with less material resources. Richard Williams had to record his daughters’ training sessions not only to play them back later, but also to show potential daughter trainers to potential daughter trainers, persuading them to train girls for free. He himself worked as a bodyguard for the night shift, and during the day he was mainly training his daughters when they returned from school. His wife worked in a hospital.

“King Richard” shows a whole lot of sacrifices that are associated with preparation for professional sports. On TV or in the stands, we only see the final result in the form of a tennis player’s victory. However, few people are aware of how much it costs tears, difficult choices or years of hard work. A similar film was made on Polish soil a few years ago, “The Coach’s Daughter”, in which the father (a great role by Jacek Braciak) was also training his daughter – a tennis player.

The important role of the parent

The Richard Williams movie highlights the difficult role of a parent in tennis. Once he teaches the child the first strokes, he has to do his best to give the child to the outside trainer (or not, as in the case of, for example, the aforementioned Sofia Kenin). How do you trust a stranger to train your own daughter? How not to miss the moment when the child wants to decide on his own sports fate?

The biggest flaw of this movie? The other heroes are nothing but satellites orbiting a father with a strong personality. We rarely get to know their feelings, thoughts – except when they disagree with “Papa Williams”. The film shows how, on the one hand, Richard Williams wanted to cut off his daughters’ expectations and therefore prevented them from participating in junior tournaments for a long time. On the other hand, the same father put enormous pressure on them, such as in the scene when he says to Venus: “You will go out to court not only for yourself, for your family, but for our entire community.” It is hard to find a greater burden on the shoulders of a 15-year-old tennis player, making her debut in the WTA competition.

Richard Williams assumed that (seven times Grand Slam winner) would become number one in the world, and (23 times Grand Slam winner) would be the best tennis player ever. “Papa” Williams has done his job, and the film telling his story proves that with exceptional determination you can achieve a lot in sport.