Behind every successful athlete, there are great sacrifices of their loved ones. The case of Serena Williams was no exception. The American legend received tremendous support from her parents, who gave it all to the careers of Serena and Venus Williams. While Serena Williams’ father, Richard Williams trained her daughters in the sport, her mother, Oracene, provided backend support. Together, they helped the Williams sisters reach the heights that would prove difficult for any sibling pair to get in tennis. Earlier today, the younger Williams sister provided intricate details of how her parents supported her career.

Earlier this week, Williams attended the 2024 New York Times DealBook Summit. During an interview there, she talked about her iconic career, what it’s like to be the GOAT, and her next steps in the business world. In one such discussion, she was asked how her parents contributed to her career and her rise to stardom.

Williams revealed, “I say that if you have to take a human body my dad was a body and my mom was a spine and I think there’s no better way to describe it that’s how important and into us, she was to us to our family to my career um and uh yeah she really particularly with me she worked on my mental toughness more than anything else.”