![]() ![]() "And Richard Williams, I loved him like a father. ![]() "I love them like my little sisters," says Barbee. But this is where Venus and Serena learned the game's fundamentals. Playing in Compton is a distant memory now: The Williams family moved to Florida in 1991. Open when she beat 18-year-old Belinda Bencic. On Friday, she advanced to the fourth round of the U.S. ![]() Older sister Venus, once dominant in the sport, is on an upswing. So I never had a problem with nobody here."īarbee was a 21-year-old limo driver and part-time tennis coach when Richard Williams invited him to train with his daughters.īarbee was a tennis prodigy himself, so when he faced Venus and Serena on the court, he had finally met his match. "You see them thugged out, drinking, smoking their weed," he says. Today, the courts are repaved and there's a new recreation center - but that's not how it used to be.Īndre Barbee says the last time he stood on the courts at East Rancho Dominguez, gang members would hang out on park benches just outside the fence. Some of the places where they'd practice were in rough neighborhoods, like East Rancho Dominguez Park, formerly known as East Compton Park. He was known for being tough and pushing his daughters to perfection on the court - hours on the courts, day in, day out. Their dad, Richard Williams, was their coach back then. I mean, they're two beautiful women that changed the whole life of tennis," Zurita says. "A lot of the little kids here in the community, they look up to them and they think they're great. Code Switch 'Venus And Serena': An Extraordinary Story, Told On Film ![]()
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