On
their first visit to Nigeria, Serena and Venus Williams want to inspire local
kids to set their goals high.
“We were really able to break the mold and win a lot of Grand
Slams and a lot of tournaments and not only that, but kind of change the face
of tennis,” Serena said Wednesday before an exhibition match against her sister
in Lagos on Friday.
“We were able to break the mold in a sport that was really
dominated by white people … it doesn’t matter what your background is and where
you come from. If you have dreams, if you have goals, that’s all that really
matters.”
The sisters, accompanied by their mother Oracene Price, are in
Nigeria’s largest city for the week.
The sisters swatted tennis balls with local children at a
private club on Ikoyi Island, home to diplomats and many of the nation’s
wealthy.
If they have their way, the sisters will be hitting tennis balls
for at least another four years, all the way to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“It’s our main goal,” said the 31-year-old Serena, a three-time
Olympic doubles gold medalist with Venus. “We were talking … about how we can’t
wait to get to Rio. And obviously, bearing that we’re both healthy, that’s our
goal to be there.”
Venus, who is 32, agreed: “That’s what we’ve begun preparing
for.”
Venus and Serena have teamed to win 13 Grand Slam doubles titles
and won Olympic gold in doubles in 2000, 2008 and 2012. Serena also won the
singles gold this year, while Venus won it in 2000.
Serena, who beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-4 to win the WTA
Championships final in Istanbul last week, is ranked No. 3 in the world. Venus,
diagnosed last year with an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue, has
struggled with illnesses and injuries in recent months and is ranked No. 24.
Courtesy: AP
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