Who is Venus and Serena Williams' mother? Tennis stars' father Richard Williams takes ill
The news of Venus and Serena Williams' father's sickness has sent the tennis world into shock and morose. Richard Williams happens to be a tennis genius who is best recognized for coaching his champion daughters. His health has reportedly been on the decline ever since a stroke in 2016 and presently, he is completely reliant on his son with a criminal past. The news of Richard Williams' ailing health surfaced after tabloids reported about the Hollywood biopic 'King Richard' based on his life, starring Will Smith in the lead. The feature is inspired by his 2014 autobiography 'Black and White: The Way I See It'.
Richard Williams was married to Serena and Venus' mother Oracene Price for over two decades, till their divorce in 2002. Price, who has three more daughters from a previous marriage, is also a noted tennis coach who helped train both Serena and Venus. In fact, the Williams sisters found their passion in tennis thanks to their parents' expert guidance and training regime.
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Who is Oracene Price?
Born in 1952 in Saginaw, Michigan, Oracene 'Brandy' Price attended Western Michigan University, before getting married to Yusef Rasheed. She had three daughters with him — Yetunde Price, Lyndrea Price, and Isha Price. Yetunde, who was a nurse and beauty salon owner, tragically died in 2003. Lyndrea presently works as a web designer while Isha Price is a lawyer.
Oracene's first husband Rasheed died in 1979, after which she started working as a nurse to raise her daughters. Soon afterward, she met Richard Williams and married him in 1980. The couple's eldest child Venus Williams was born on June 17, 1980, followed by Serena on September 26, 1981. Price, who describes herself as a 'rampant feminist', learned tennis herself to help coach her daughters.
She is credited for aiding Richard Williams, a professionally trained coach, to train Serena and Venus during the formative years of their career. She is the one who inculcated the famous strategy of 'poise under pressure', as we often get to witness in the Williams sisters' games. "There's no such thing as pressure. As Black Americans, that's all we've ever had. It's life. So where's the pressure?" Price had famously said once. However, many believe that Price is an underappreciated coach, whose role as a mentor is often overshadowed by her role as a mother.
Oracene Price was married to Richard Williams till 2002, and the family was particularly dedicated to nurturing their daughters' passion for tennis. The family even moved to Florida as famous tennis coach Rick Macci offered to coach Serena and Venus for free. However, all was not well between Oracene and Richard as a couple, as she started living separately in 2000, before finalizing their divorce in 2003.
Williams later remarried Lakeisha Graham in 2010, which ended in a messy divorce in 2017. However, the proceedings for the same are still ongoing. He shares a young son, Dylan, with Lakeisha, who was born in 2012. Presently, he is under the care of his 48-year-old son Chavoita Lesane from his first marriage with Betty Johnson. Lesane has a history of criminal offenses but at the moment, he is the only caregiver to Williams, who is suffering from a neurological disorder.