Williams is regarded as one of the best tennis players of all-time and it's partially thanks to her ex
Serena Williams said a tough break-up with her first boyfriend, who ghosted her, is what helped spear the American ace on to become one of the most dominant female athletes of all-time through her tennis career.
Williams went on to win 23 major singles which is a record for a woman in the Open Era of tennis and she reigned as world number one for 319 weeks with a career winning 84.6% of all her singles games.
And part of the reason for that was her boyfriend prior to 2002, simply stopped talking to her and became unavailable and inaccessible (ghosting) after she stayed at his house for a for weeks.
“A few days after the US Open final, I’m in DC with my sister [Venus],” Williams said to the documentary, In The Arena: Serena Williams. “I see this guy that I’m dating, so and so. and I stayed at his house for a couple of weeks. It was the first relationship I ever had. I was in my twenties.
“I go home. He ghosts me. I got ghosted. It wasn’t even that serious, but it was like I used that, and I made it way more serious than what it was. So, when he ghosted me I used that as an opportunity to say, he’s going to regret this for the rest of his life.
“That was just the motivation I needed to go the extra mile. I’m going make sure this person sees me everywhere for the rest of their life.”
It’s fair to say that life has worked out for Williams now though, with her legacy as one of the greatest athletes of all-time safe and secure, with over $94m in career earnings at the age of 42 and two children and a husband, she can enjoy life for all its riches now.
When is the next tennis slam?
Carlos Alcaraz dispatched of Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the final of the men’s singles tournament at the Wimbledon championships and he will not have to wait long to take to the court again for his next major win.
Due up is the US Open, which will begin with qualifiers from August 19 and will run through to the men’s singles final on September 8, with the main draw kicking off from August 26. Djokovic is the defending champion after beating Daniil Medvedev in 2023 in straight sets.
