Women Of Sports & The Bibleনমুনা

“Iconic Tennis Champion Serena Williams Leans On Bible Verses In Difficult Moments”

Serena Williams will go down in history as the greatest women’s tennis player of all time, if not the greatest female to play any sport. She is known for her overpowering serves, her smothering ground strokes and her unforgiving, overhead slams. Williams is also known for her passionate and fierce approach to the game.

In her toughest moments, however, the 23-time Grand Slam winner and four-time Olympic gold medalist has turned to the Bible for comfort and guidance. 

Take for instance an unfortunate situation she and her older sister, Venus, experienced in 2001 at the Indian Wells Masters. There, the siblings were scheduled to face each other in a semi-final matchup, but a back injury forced Venus to drop out of the tournament. Some opposing players and many of the fans openly wondered if the sisters’ father and coach at the time, Richard Williams, had fixed the match by telling Venus not to play.

When Serena Williams next took the court, she was booed and both she and her father claimed that racial slurs were yelled out from some fans in the crowd.

“This haunted me for a long time,” she wrote in an essay for TIME Magazine. “It haunted Venus and our family as well. But most of all, it angered and saddened my father. He dedicated his whole life to prepping us for this incredible journey, and there he had to sit and watch his daughter being taunted, sparking cold memories of his experiences growing up in the South.”

Fourteen years later, Williams returned to Indian Wells and paraphrased Mark 11:25 as the reason why she could move past the incident.

“‘When you stand praying, forgive whatever you have against anyone, so that your Father who is in the heavens may also forgive you,’” she continued. “I have faith that fans at Indian Wells have grown with the game and know me better than they did in 2001. Indian Wells was a pivotal moment of my story and I am a part of the tournament's story as well. Together we have a chance to write a different ending.”

In 2003, Williams faced her most trying moment when she received the devastating news her oldest, half-sister, Yetunde Price, had been murdered in a seemingly random drive-by shooting in Compton, California. While away from playing tennis to deal with personal tragedy, Williams went through a healing process. Part of the process took place at Bible study meetings she attended sometimes up to three times a week. In an interview with The New York Times, she likened the experience to a parable that Jesus taught in Matthew 7.

“I tried to develop a better relationship with God,” Williams said. “You have a strong solid foundation, the Bible says, you won’t crack, but the man who built his house in the sand, his house went down spiritually. I have a really strong foundation. That’s how I was raised.”