Grateful to Venus and Serena is an understatement. I was an emotional player, a loud player, a power player — all ways of playing made possible by the Williams sisters. I left bruises on my thighs from frustration and celebrated my wins out loud. I felt a ferocity in competition that I have dreams about today and channel in my waking life too. Just a couple days after my dad’s birthday and Serena’s last match, I’m sitting with how all that tennis meant to me and my dad together. My mom recently sent me this footage I’ve never seen from my freshman year, one of the practices we had just the two of us (how crazy is it to hear/see someone on video who’s passed). My dad was one of my coaches and the most important one. He made me journal after every practice, he recorded me and spent hours with me outside of all the other practice hours I had in a week. These sessions were an unwelcome addition as you can tell from my attitude but they were priceless. My dad isn’t here to speak to how much Richard Williams inspired him if at all, but I’ll draw my own conclusions. I remember standing next to my dad as we talked to Richard briefly through the fence at the Cincinnati tournament and feeling the parallels. I love my dad, I love tennis, and I love Venus and Serena Williams. That sport saved me many times and I’m so grateful my parents put me in it, giving me the opportunity to thrive when I did so almost no where else. That confidence has carried me through to my life today.