U.S. Open Star, Serena Williams in Jail if Not for Tennis? Childhood Coach's Words

In an interview, which took place two weeks prior to Serena Williams' loss against Roberta Vinci in the 2015 U.S. Open, Rick Macci, the Williams sisters' childhood coach said, "She will be No. 1 in the world, or she will go to jail."

Rick Macci is a world-renowned tennis instructor. Macci is also the owner of the Rick Macci Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Florida. He has coached five No. 1-ranked players, including Andy Roddick, Jennifer Capriati​, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams and Serena Williams.

Now, the quote, "She will be No. 1 in the world, or she will go to jail," may be a little out of context. As everyone already knows, Serena and Venus Williams are from Compton, California, as reported by ESPN. Compton is not one of the safest neighborhoods in Southern California, "Serena was nine and Venus was 10," Macci said in an interview with Complex Magazine. "And he [Richard Williams] decided at that time they were going to move from Compton and he wanted me to coach both the girls." Due to her competitive spirit, her coach noticed that she was made for greatness.

In the interview with Complex Magazine's Maurice Pebbles, Macci opened up a lot about the Williams sisters. Macci believed in the sisters despite the fact that the odds were always against them: "I couldn't see an athlete becoming, you know, 5-foot-10 or 5-foot-11, 150-160 pounds and covering the court like the wind-and that's what I saw in both the girls. And the wild part was they competed. They'd run over broken glass to get the ball and they'd run over it to get the next one. So they had this innate quality internally that I saw right away."

He also always knew Serena would go further than Venus, "But, when it was all said and done, you had this other one who was right behind [Venus]. [Serena] wasn't very mature at her young age, but athletically she was a little bit more gifted in her own way. [I thought] maybe she could be better?"

Unfortunately, Serena didn't get to become No. 1 this year, but there's always hope for next year! You can read the full interview on Complex Magazine.