The Inspiring True Story Behind Will Smith’s ‘King Richard’

The big picture

• King Richard
  emphasizes the father's role in raising Venus and Serena Williams.
• The film portrays Richard Williams' dedication to his daughters' tennis careers.
• while
  King Richard
  shows victories, glosses over some of the tragedies of the Williams family.

Inspirational “rags to riches” stories are an important subgenre of the larger category of sports movies. Even for those unfamiliar with the particular mechanics of a given sport, an empowering narrative about an athlete overcoming significant odds has inherent dramatic value. There have been countless football, baseball, basketball and hockey movies throughout the history of cinema, but the number of great tennis movies are few and far between. Despite this, the true story of Richard Williams and his tennis empire inspired the Academy Award-winning biopic King Richard.

Unlike most inspirational sports dramas, King Richard he is less interested in the players themselves as much as he is in the man who raised them. director Reinaldo Marcus Green produced a thoughtful study of how ambition and success can lead a family to face serious questions about the responsibilities each member bears. while King Richard became mired in controversy because of Will SmithWinner of the Academy Award for Best Actor, it's a film that certainly doesn't look at the recent past with rose-colored glasses. What is even more impressive is that some of the wilder aspects of King Richard they are really true.

What is 'King Richard' about?

Initially set in the late 1980s, King Richard explores Richard Williams' ambitious efforts to turn his two daughters into tennis champions. Raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, Williams had a challenging upbringing in the face of gang violence and police brutality in his community. Determined to ensure that his daughters were not restricted by the same parameters that he was, Williams began to develop an extensive plan for them to play tennis before their birth. This plan included an 85-page handbook that included information on academic success, athletic skill development, and how to conduct themselves in public. Although most tennis athletes do not begin official training until they are six years old, Williams signed Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton) for classes when they were just over four years old.

Williams devoted most of his time and efforts to getting his daughters as much time as possible on the court. In addition to working as a security guard to earn extra funds, his wife Brandy (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) worked a grueling job as a nurse at a local hospital near the family home in Compton, California. Williams began an unusual marketing campaign to get her daughters a professional trainer, often distributing flyers and videotapes demonstrating her expertise. Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn), a professional trainer who trained champions like JohnMcEnroe i PeteSampras, is initially hired to teach Venus, but refuses to train Serena as well. Serena lets herself train with her mother. Both girls end up having significant success, surprising the largely white, middle-class competitor. However, Williams' subsequent decision to withdraw her daughters from the junior tournament leads to a dispute that ends with Cohen's firing.

King Richard accurately depicts the Williams family experience in Compton. Williams often drove a red Volkswagen bus to pick up her daughters and refused to take money from anyone, preferring to personally pay for her daughter's training. In Williams' memoirs Black and white: how I see it, we see that there are more incidents of racial abuse than what is depicted in the film. Both Serena and Venus were heckled by gang members and the white audience as they trained alongside their father. The film briefly includes a moment in which Williams was beaten by gang members who were harassing his daughter; in his memoirs, Williams admits it was at the height of a “two-year battle,” which culminated in 1985 when band members wrecked his Volkswagen. The fight ended with Williams losing ten teeth and suffering several broken bones. Williams bought a shotgun to protect his family, but did not go after the gang members as depicted in the film.

Venus and Serena Williams became record tennis champions

After new coach Rick Macchi (Jon Bernthal) is hired, Williams and his family move to California to begin training at a professional facility. Although she encourages her daughters to be ambitious, Williams stresses to Venus and Serena that they should stay humble about their success. Despite the intense training regimen they go through as they prepare for the championship, Venus and Serena attend regular school classes and have severe restrictions on their off-court social lives. This leads to a series of disputes, as the media criticizes Williams for his extreme tactics. Richards' relationship with her eldest daughter is further strained when Venus announces that she wants to compete professionally.

Although he has grown increasingly suspicious of his father's true motivations, Venus follows Richard's advice by turning down a deal from athletic shoe producer Nike. The settlement, worth more than $3 million, would have been very beneficial to the family at the time. Despite Macchi's encouragement to accept, Williams believed that Venus would be an even more valuable asset to potentially interested brands after she had already established herself as champion. Williams' prediction proved correct. While Venus wins her first pro match against ShaunStafford in the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, he loses his second game Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. However, the final cards of the film reveal that Venus won seven Grand Slam titles, including five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open.

While the film is accurate in its depiction of girls' success, King Richard overlooks some of the tragic events of the Williams family. In 2003, Yetunde, Venus and Serena's half-sister, was killed in a shooting near her Compton home in what was later reported to be a case of mistaken identity. While the film alludes to the rift that grew between Williams and Brandy, the couple officially divorced in 2002 after more than two decades of marriage.

“King Richard” did not tell the full story of the Williams family

Although it takes its time to show the bow of Venus to victory, King Richard it doesn't delve into Serena's development as a player. The film insinuates that Serena felt pressure due to her sister's success and subsequently felt ignored when Paul did not select her for training. Although the film ends before her solo career really begins, Serena would go on to become one of the most decorated female tennis players of all time. She won an astonishing total of 23 women's Grand Slam titles and became the only player in history to win a Career Gold Slam in both singles and doubles tournaments. Widely recognized as one of the greatest players in history, Serena would become a huge celebrity and brand spokesperson.

Although the real Isha Price was involved in the production of the film, King Richard it doesn't go into Williams' other stepchildren. Williams' three stepdaughters, Tunde, Isha and Lyndrea, are depicted as being nice to both Venus and Serena, and Price admitted that “the big sisters were out there picking up balls and dedicated their lives to being there for their brothers small”. Although she briefly had tennis ambitions of her own, Isha would become a successful lawyer. He said he agreed to supervise King Richard as a producer because “there's so much that's been put in the media that's not true,” and the family was “a little nervous” about telling their story.

Although the film manages to develop a flawed protagonist, King Richard leaves out some of the darker aspects of Williams' story. The film shows that Williams forced his daughters to play in the rain and practice tennis both before and after school, and how he put rackets in their hands when they were still babies. However, the film leaves out their strict policy on their dating lives and refusal to let them have toy dolls. However, Serena expressed her approval of the film, stating that “it was a great opportunity to see how amazing African-American parents are.”

King Richard now streaming on Netflix in the US

Watch on Netflix