The premise seems too fantastic to be true: the two greatest tennis players of their era — one of them among the best of all time — come from an African-American family in Compton, California. It makes sense that this real-life story would become a documentary.
“In the Arena: Serena Williams,” occupying the same genre as “The Last Dance” and the documentary chronicling Tom Brady’s career, “Man in the Arena,” explores the life and times of an outsized sports personality. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the two series’ similar titles, Brady serves as an executive producer of the eight-part Williams documentary, along with Serena herself.
Rise from Obscurity
The series’ first episode focuses on Williams’ upbringing, which places the millions she later earned playing tennis in stark contrast. Serena, the youngest of five girls in her household, grew up without a bed to sleep in at the family’s modest home. It was in these years that Serena grew incredibly close to her sister Venus, the fourth of the five girls in the Williams house.
Few may remember it now, but Serena’s tennis career started almost as an afterthought, as the tennis press focused almost exclusively on older sister Venus’ development. Even though her father, Richard, tried to shield his daughters from the pressure that comes with playing competitive sports at a young age, Venus made a celebrated debut at the ripe age of 14, in 1994.
In the documentary, Serena noted that the press attention on her older sister allowed her to pass under the radar for a time. Serena, who took up tennis to emulate her sibling, served as Venus’ hitting partner. Working behind the scenes allowed the younger Williams to hone her skills in a way that did not initially attract the levels of attention given to Venus during the mid-1990s.
Public Sibling Rivalry
The second episode of “In the Arena” examines Serena’s coming of age as a tennis champion in her own right — an era marked by intense competition against her older sister. In 1999, Serena became the first of the two to win a Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open, helped along by sister Venus falling to Martina Hingis in the semi-finals. The loss, which she attributed to a lack of focus, inspired Venus to up her game, and she won four Grand Slams in rapid succession during 2000 and 2001.
By 2002, Serena managed to improve and diversify her game, no small part of which involved handling the psychological torment associated with playing her big sister. Serena finally discovered she could compete against Venus only by ignoring her, and not looking across court at her sibling during a match.
Williams’ “Serena Slam” of 2002-03 — where the younger Williams held all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously, albeit not in the same calendar year — has become a well-known term in the tennis lexicon. But one less well-known fact seems equally compelling: to win each of the four legs of the “Serena Slam,” the younger sister had to defeat her older sibling in the championship final.
The documentary interviews Venus about this fact, and the older sibling observed — with much justification — that she likely could have beaten just about any player in those championship finals, other than her sister. It makes one wonder about the obvious counterfactual, and whether Venus could have won all those Slams, and become known as one of the all-time greats, but for her sister playing at the same time she did.
By the same token, Serena described in vivid detail the torment of having to play not just her sibling, but her best friend, on a very public stage with thousands of fans in the stands and millions watching worldwide. The fact that Venus and Serena lived together during much of this time only heightened the psychological dynamic.
The Era of Tennis Greats
The documentary provides new insights into the career of a player that tennis fans have followed for more than a quarter-century. During one interview, Serena disclosed that she injured her hand while skateboarding. The injury, which she did not tell her father about, prompted her to change her style of play, and helped her develop the forehand shot that she eventually put to good use on the court.
In the past few years, tennis has gone through an evolution, with noted champions like Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic retiring or on the back end of their careers. “In the Arena” provides a look back at one of the singular stars of this era, who came to define a generation of women’s tennis.
“In the Arena: Serena Williams” airs on ESPN Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern, or is available on the ESPN Plus app.
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