Tennis star Venus Williams entered the limelight of the athletic world as a young girl, breaking barriers as she and her sister Serena dominated the sport. Venus, however, is no stranger to the demands and rigors of being a young athletic star, consistently expressing her confidence in her winning ability.
In a resurfaced clip from a 1995 ABC News interview, an adolescent Venus is drilled with questions about her views on her competition by a reporter. After Venus shares that she feels "very confident” going up against a competitor, the white reporter asks her where her confidence might come from.
“You say it so confidently, why?” He asked.
“Cause I believe it,” Venus responded flatly.
“You’re dealing with a little black kid and her confidence let her be, leave her alone!”
When Richard Williams schooled a journalist on how to interview his daughter Venus ????
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) July 3, 2020
Her father Richard ultimately stepped in and checked the reporter about trying to jeopardize the image of a 14-year-old girl.
“What she said, she said it with so much confidence the first time,” he began. “This child is going to be out there playing when your old ass and me are gonna be in the grave.”
"You’re dealing with a little Black kid and let her be a kid, leave her alone! She done answered it with a lot of confidence. Leave that alone!” Richard added.
With her father handling the ABC reporter, one Twitter user said Venus is shown on the video diverting her attention away from the conversation as if to express “daddy’s got this.”
She said “daddy’s got this” ???? pic.twitter.com/o7l8DSac9J
— David AttenBruh???????? (@AlHendiify) May 27, 2021
Another user wrote that situations like the one shown in the clip happen far too often for Black youth, many of whom do not have the constant protection of their parents.
“The subtle pathological questioning, undermining, and demeaning of black children goes unchecked far too often. Too many parents can’t be there to do just this. How fortunate they were to have such a fierce and competent protector.” they wrote.
Venus echoed her confidence yet again during an interview after a first-round loss at Roland Garros.
The 40-year-old former No. 1 WTA player was asked by reporters how she copes with the media, to which she emphasized her greatness and purpose. She said that the people who critique her will never be as good as her on the court.
“For me personally, how I cope, how I deal with it, was that I know every single person asking me a question can’t play as well as I can and never will,” Venus said. “So no matter what you say, or what you write, you’ll never light a candle to me. That’s how I deal with it. But each person deals with it differently.”
Venus made the remark following fellow tennis star Naomi Osaka’s announcement to boycott media interviews at the French Open, which she has since withdrawn from.
As Blavity previously reported, Osaka said that large press conferences often bring her a great deal of anxiety and she planned to forego any media responsibility at the upcoming tournament. After she was fined $15,000 for boycotting interviews following a first-round match, Osaka withdrew from the tournament altogether.
