Richard Dove Williams Jr. (born February 14, 1942) is a former American tennis coach and the father of tennis players Venus Williams and Serena Williams. Early life Williams is the oldest of five children and the only son of Julia Mae ( Metcalf) and Richard Dove Williams of Shreveport, Louisiana. His younger sisters are Pat, Barbara, Penny, and Faye. After graduating from high school he moved to Saginaw, Michigan and then to California. Tennis coaching Williams took tennis lessons from a man known as "Old Whiskey" and decided his future daughters would be tennis professionals after seeing Virginia Ruzici playing on television. Williams said that he wrote up an 85-page plan and started giving lessons to Venus and Serena when they were four and a half, taking them to practice on public tennis courts. Williams later added that he felt he took them too early and age six would have been more suitable. In 1995, Williams withdrew his daughters from a tennis academy and coached them himself. Within a few years, they were winning grand slam tournaments. Serena won the US Open in 1999 and Venus beat Lindsay Davenport to win the 2000 Wimbledon title. After that victory, Richard shouted "Straight Outta Compton!", in reference to a song by N.W.A based in Compton, California, the same area in Los Angeles where the family once resided. He jumped over the NBC broadcasting booth, catching Chris Evert by surprise and performing a triumphant dance. Evert said that the broadcasters "thought the roof was coming down". Personal life Born in Shreveport, Louisiana to a family of sharecroppers, Richard Williams had childhood experiences with racism. He has been open about his difficult childhood and experiences with racism and has credited his faith as a source of strength throughout each season of his life. Williams has been married three times and has five children. Prior to meeting his future wife Oracene Price in 1970s, Williams moved to Saginaw, Michigan then California, and met his first wife Betty Johnson. Johnson and Williams married in 1965 and had five children, three sons and two daughters: Sabrina, Richard III, Ronner, Reluss, and Reneeka, who were raised alongside Betty's other daughter, Katrina. Williams and Johnson divorced in 1973. In 1979, he met Oracene "Brandy" Price, who had three daughters from a previous relationship in California, and they married in 1980. They have two daughters together, Venus and Serena, both