Long before Venus and Serena Williams were old enough to hold a tennis racket, their father was mapping out the future for the two famous players.

His story is the subject of the new film King Richard, opening in US theaters and on HBO Max on November 19, made with the support of the Williams family and accompanied by a rousing song by Beyoncé. , according to Reuters.

While Venus and Serena Williams are now household names and symbols of black female empowerment, the story of how they reached the pinnacle of athletic fame from one neighborhood in Los Angeles is almost unknown.

Richard Williams, played by Will Smith, is a coach, father and encourager of the girls, coaching them on public tennis courts with broken surfaces in the 1990s in South Los Angeles (USA). ). He went to pick up discarded balls, wallowing in ridicule and disbelief so that his two daughters could focus on tennis.

“Mr. Richard did that as if asking someone to believe that he had two Mozart geniuses living in his house,” one initial skeptic said about him.

“Richard was truly visionary and actually wrote a 75 or 80 page manifesto before Serena and Venus were born that their family would have two more daughters who would go on to become two top tennis players. world,” commented Tony Goldwyn who plays Paul Cohen, the first professional coach of Venus and Serena Williams.

However, Mr. Richard Williams often challenged Cohen’s training methods and techniques. “Paul Cohen told me he liked Richard for that,” Goldwyn said.

Isha Price, one of Venus and Serena’s three half-sisters, was an early collaborator on the script, providing details and many memories that make the film a family story. Richard Williams had been ill for many years and did not appear in the film.

Venus Williams said that she was very emotional when watching the movie: “My eyes watered when I watched the family moments together, father and daughter.”

The film was directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, using real tennis players to make the action scenes look very real. The two actors Demi Singleton (as Serena) and Saniyya Sidney (Venus) had to undergo months of intensive training to learn how to hit the ball, serve and play professional tennis.

“Serena and Venus Williams were extraordinary people, very kind,” Sidney recalls. They gave us great advice about growing up in this world and what it was like for them as children living in the love of their family.”