Richard Williams, Venus and Serena Williams’ father, recently revealed what the Williams sisters’ alternate career options would have been, if not for their prodigious tennis talent.

Richard Williams coached the Williams sisters during their childhood.

The sibling duo of Serena and Venus Williams dominated tennis for around two decades. They have a combined total of 30 Grand Slam singles titles. Serena Williams retired from the sport in 2022 while Venus Williams is still competing professionally.

In an exclusive interview with the U.S. Sun, Richard Williams shed some light on the all-time greats’ other interests. He was the first coach of the Williams sisters and pushed them towards a career in tennis.

When asked what his daughters would have done if they weren’t tennis professionals, the 80-year-old revealed details about their interests.

“Serena wanted to be an animal doctor, and Venus wanted to be an engineer, I believe,” he said.

Richard Williams’ story as he shaped the careers of his daughters was brilliantly portrayed in the 2021 Hollywood film, “King Richard.” The 2021 film was directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and Will Smith played the titular character.

The film went on to become a huge success, with Smith winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 2022 Oscars.

Serena Williams’ father Richard reflected on Will Smith’s Oscars scandal

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Richard Williams, the father of Serena Williams, recently reflected on the Oscars debacle involving Will Smith and Chris Rock. Following the incident with Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, where Will Smith stormed on stage and slapped his co-star for making a joke about his wife, Williams jokingly suggested that the actor should slap him when they meet.

In a recent interview, the 80-year-old stated that he doesn’t have a problem with the way Smith handled the situation.

“I think that whatever he [Smith] wants to do, that’s what he should do. People are going to think what they want to think. If he apologized [that’s good], however, he wants to deal with the situation. I wouldn’t judge anyone,” the 80-year-old expressed.

Richard Williams and Will Smith never communicated during the entire production of the movie. The former was subsequently questioned if he would like to meet the American actor in light of this, to which he responded:

“I definitely hope so, yes. I would say just, hello. And maybe, what [we] should do … just slap my face,” he joked.