Best of Young Turks: 'GOAT' Serena Williams' advice for entrepreneurs

Inspired by the great sporting conquests of African American athletes, Serena covets an Olympic Singles Gold Medal more than all the grand slams. She has even named her daughter Olympia. However, in the pre-Wimbledon press conference, Serena said that she is going to skip the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to begin later this month.

Today, Serena figures among one of the world’s highest paid athletes. Over 25 years as a tennis pro, she has won close to $100 million in prize money. Twice more than anything achieved by another female athlete.

Now, Serena has brought her powerful drive to the world of startups too. Through Serena Ventures, she has invested in more than 50 startups with the total market capitalisation of the portfolio pegged at $14 billion. Recently, she joined the board of consumer survey startup SurveyMonkey at the suggestion of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. An entrepreneur too, Serena has launched her own fashion clothing line - S By Serena. In this interview, Serena gives a piece of advice to entrepreneurs, “Don’t Give Up!”

Also, ever thought Serena Williams would turn a script-writer? Her deal with Amazon Studios earlier this year spells out exactly what was predicted in this 2008 interview with CNBC-TV18 Managing Editor Shereen Bhan!

She's one of the most well-known faces of tennis and always makes a statement on the court and off it as well. 26-year-old Serena Williams has captured the imagination of the tennis world and created headlines for more than a decade now. The former world number one, currently ranked ninth in the WTA rankings, has battled marquee players - Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, and her own sister Venus Williams. Pocketing eight Grand Slam singles titles, and an Olympic gold medal in the women's double, she's also the fifth woman in history to complete a Career Grand Slam - that you have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously.

Shereen Bhan: Serena, thanks very much for joining us on the show. It's been an exciting time for you in India. We've seen you splashed all over in saris and eating Indian food and now you have won the Bangalore open. What has the India visit meant to you?

Serena Williams: Well, I've had so much fun in India thus far. It's been a great experience. Everyone has been so open, welcoming, and warm towards me, and my whole family. It's just made India unforgettable, thus far.

Shereen Bhan: What's been the biggest surprise since you came to India? Did you have a preconceived notion of what it was going to be like?

Serena Williams: No, I didn’t have a preconceived notion. I just thought, I've always wanted to come to India. And, it was just something I've always wanted to do.

Shereen Bhan: So, you started playing when you could barely walk and you won your first tournament when you were about four and a half. So, there isn't any other life that you actually lived. You pretty much lived your entire life on the tennis court. Was there ever the thought or an idea of something else that you wanted to do?

Serena Williams: I started playing when I was four. And, you know, I didn't play a tournament so late, much later after that. But, tennis was so fun for me and for my sister. We just had a lot of fun. It was like our life. We knew that we would go to the tennis court every day. It just became a part of our life. But, at the same time, I just thought it was just something that I just did. I mean, I can't imagine life right now without it.

Shereen Bhan: 2007 was in a sense a turnaround year for you. You move back into the Top 10 ranking. You didn't have a couple of good years between 2004 and 2006. What's 2008 looking like?

Serena Williams: Well, I'm definitely just keeping a really positive attitude. My main goal is just to have a lot of fun, enjoy what I do, and really enjoy the battle.

Shereen Bhan: You are doing so many different things at this point in time. Tennis, of course, is the mainstay. You're also doing your own clothing line. You're also the brand ambassador for a technology company. In that sense, which role do you enjoy the most at this point in time? How do you juggle between everything?

Serena Williams: Well, I'm just having so much fun with each and everything that I'm doing. I'm having a blast with HP. I mean, I absolutely love all the HP products. I just think the ad that they did is just really brilliant. I had a lot of fun doing that. Not only that, I got to design a dress for the ad, which is the last scene that you see in the HP ad, which is really cool. So, it was great for Aneres, it was great for HP. Of course, I enjoy tennis. So, you know, I'm just in this point in my life where I'm just having so much fun with everything that I do,

Shereen Bhan: But, how involved with the business of the clothesline are you? Because I know you're creatively involved. But, are you also involved from a business point of view? Are you sort of an entrepreneur as well?

Serena Williams: Definitely, I am. My parents raised all of us, all my sisters, to be really into the business side of things. Because that, I think, is most important. You never want anything to slide under your nose or under your eyes. It's been difficult though. I had to kind of take myself away from Aneres a little bit because it was like I was overly-involved. And I was like, “Oh my god, I was playing tennis”. I was like, “Okay, I gotta just focus on tennis right now, and then worry about that later”.

Shereen Bhan: But, what's been the biggest learning really, not from a tennis point of view, but from a business point of view so far for you?

Serena Williams: Well, the biggest learning for me is that you can't give up. If one direction doesn't work, then you have to go another direction. We've been just going in so many different alleys, so many different directions. But, we always keep a really positive attitude.

Shereen Bhan: Over a decade-long career that you have had, and you've pretty much been the fifth woman in history to have a Career Grand Slam. What's been the high point to you? What's been the one moment that stood out in your mind?

Serena Williams: The one moment, honestly, I'd have to go with the Olympics gold medal because growing up...

Shereen Bhan: Yes, patriotic and nationalistic?

Serena Williams: Well, just growing up you see Carl Lewis, you see Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Greg Lougains. You see all these great Olympic champions and you just want to get there. When you get there, and actually have a gold medal, for me, is the best thing. It was great, it was awesome.

Shereen Bhan: And, the biggest disappointment?

Serena Williams: I try. I don't even think about disappointments.

Shereen Bhan: Just move on.

Serena Williams: Yeah, I don't even think about that.

Shereen Bhan: But, any one instance where you thought that, “I really wish that I could have won this tournament” or “I really wish…”

Serena Williams: I think that about every tournament I don't win, for the most part.

Shereen Bhan: So, who is the real Serena Williams? We know that you like to have fun, we know that you enjoy tennis immensely, we know you're a tech person as well. And, you believe in family and friends. But, what is the side of you that we don't know about?

Serena Williams: Well, what I think a lot of people don't know is that I'm very creative. I love to write, which is where my computer comes in really handy because I'm always writing. Like, I would love to write a script.

Shereen Bhan: A movie?

Serena Williams: Yeah, I would love to write a screenplay. And, I always have these different ideas so I'm always on my own.

Shereen Bhan: Have you already got something together?

Serena Williams: Yeah. I have ideas that I've written down but not in script formation. But I have like, I forget what they call it...

Shereen Bhan: Are they comedies, are they romantic?

Serena Williams: Honestly, I write mostly romance, but sarcastic comedy that doesn't really have good endings. So, it's interesting.

Shereen Bhan: So, you’re not into happy endings, is it?

Serena Williams: I am into happy endings. But, I also miss the realistic.

Shereen Bhan: But, edgy happy endings?

Serena Williams: More realistic, not edgy. Just really realistic.

Shereen Bhan: Where does this side come from?

Serena Williams: I don't know. This would be the left. The creative side of my brain. I’m just really creative. I'm always thinking of new ideas.

Shereen Bhan: But, have you actually spoken to people? Are we actually going to see that screenplay being translated into celluloid reality anytime soon?

Serena Williams: I mean, I don't know. I have a lot of things written down. Maybe I should move on, so I think I will.

Shereen Bhan: Okay, so writing is the one part that we didn't know. But, are you into music and things like that as well?

Serena Williams: Of course, I'm into music, I love anything that's popular. Whatever they're playing on mainstream radio is really what I'm into.

Narrator: The Williams sisters learnt to play tennis even before they could make it to school. Her father, Richard, dreamt of a better life for his five daughters and knew tennis was the route to happiness and success. Together, Serena and her sister Venus have not just made Grand Slam history, they've also paved the way for African Americans on the WTA.

Shereen Bhan: But, how does it really work? Because this is something that everybody thinks about - playing with your sister, competing with your sister. How do you differentiate that? Okay, now this is Serena Williams, a tennis star who's going out there and is battling a fierce competitor. How do you disintegrate the two roles between sister and tennis player?

Serena Williams: Well, for me it's really important to be a sister first. And it's really important to be just a good person. So we're on the court, obviously, you know...

Shereen Bhan: It’s very different, isn't it?

Serena Williams: When we're on the court that's when the ‘Serena Williams, Tennis Player’ comes out. But, other than that, I'm just Serena all the time, I'm not anything else.

Shereen Bhan: But, there must have been trying times, especially when you started off. Both of you were competing against each other professionally. How did you sort it out?

Serena Williams: I was really excited to be competing against her because she had done so well, so fast. It was like I just wanted to compete, and I wanted to be in that situation as well. So, whenever I had a match against her, it was great.

Shereen Bhan: But, dethroning each other, moving each other out of the rankings. Does that at least in that instance bother you?

Serena Williams: No, because I want the best for my sister. I really, really want the best for her. And, she, Venus, definitely wants the best for me. Then it's really competitive. I mean, when she became number one, I wanted to be number one. And when I won the Grand Slam, she wanted to win the Grand Slam. So, I think in a way, we help each other out and we help our careers.

Shereen Bhan: But, is it lonely being on the tour and does it help to have Venus there? Because, you're constantly competing with one another, you're constantly on the move, you're in different countries practically every couple of days, on a plane, off the plane. Does it get lonely? Do you not have the capacity to have a regular life in that sense?

Serena Williams: Well, we are not constantly competing with each other.

Shereen Bhan: Not just with each other, but just being on the tour. Does it leave out the regular stuff, relationships, so on and so forth?

Serena Williams: We're not constantly competing with each other. We really have a great time. And, the tour, the tour can get lonely, but I have been fortunate enough to have my family that travels with me. I travel with my dogs, and believe it or not, they're really great company. I'm always with my computer. And, with my HP, they have this little webchat thing. So, I always chat with my friends, my mom, my sisters, and my cousin. Every time, I always have a source to go to at home and I'm not as lonely. And plus, I figure I have a great job. I get to travel to different countries I've never been to and see lots of different things like right now, for instance, I'm in India. And, I'm excited. I mean, I get to have a chance to see the Taj Mahal and come to streets I've never been before.

Shereen Bhan: Well, apart from Venus, who's been your fiercest competitor? Who do you really enjoy battling against?

Serena Williams: Well, I enjoy playing like my heroes. Like I enjoyed playing Steffi Graf, which I thought was just really cool. And, Monica Seles was someone that I enjoyed watching. She was my idol. And, then to have to play her...

Shereen Bhan: Was that intimidating for you? At least in the beginning, when you started off. To actually be competing with people that you've looked up to and grown up watching?

Serena Williams: It was cool more than anything. It was like, “Wow, this is a great opportunity”. And, I wanted to win. I watched them, but yet I felt like I could win and I wanted to win.

Shereen Bhan: What's been the lesson that you've learned watching Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova and people who we've all grown up watching tennis. But, for you, when you play with them, when you spend time with them, what's been the one thing that you've imbibed as part of your personality from any of them?

Serena Williams: Well, I think those great champs, they never give up. And, you can never think, even if you're up a match point, they never gave up. I thought, in order to be a great champion, that always embodies them.

Shereen Bhan: In the fresh crop of players that you see on the pro circuit at this point in time, do you see a lot of stars who have that spark in them?

Serena Williams: You know everyone nowadays is fighting. And everyone I play…I think the level of tennis has definitely gone up.

Shereen Bhan: Is it a very different place from when you actually turned pro? When you were about 14. Is it a very different place, now, the circuit? Is it getting a lot more commercial, you think, or is it still about the sport?

Serena Williams: It’s definitely about the sport.

Shereen Bhan: So, you don't think the fact that you've got so much money coming in, you've got advertisers and all of that, that hasn't taken away from the sport?

Serena Williams: No, I mean, tennis is definitely about the sport. And, players are living for the Grand Slams.

Shereen Bhan: So, where do you actually see yourself headed now? Because you're back, you're going to be competing now through the year. Is there a specific target or a specific goal that you've set for yourself in 2008?

Serena Williams: Well, in 2008, my goal is just to be injury-free and just enjoy myself.

Narrator: It's a full life for this tennis champ. Known for her colourful outfits, Serena has become a style icon for the tennis world. In fact, she's converted her flamboyance into a winning business proposition with Aneres - her clothes line. Three years after she launched, Serena is all set to take her line outside of the US to Europe and the Middle East. India could also be a possibility. No stranger to the spotlight, Serena enjoyed every bit of the attention she got, as she walked around with designers Shantanu and Nikhil with their special line for HP.

Shereen Bhan: 2004 to 2006, as I said, were difficult years for you. You had injury issues, you dropped down from the rankings? How did you deal with that? How do you deal with criticism? How do you deal with people saying, “Well, she's lost her touch, she's out of shape”? How do you deal with that as a sportsperson, because this is everything that you’ve always fought for?

Serena Williams: I think every sportsperson has to deal with that at some points in your time. It's not how you deal with it, it's how you recover that makes you a true champ.

Shereen Bhan: So, what is the ‘Serena method’? Do you check out, switch off? How do you get your bearings back? How do you get it back together?

Serena Williams: I’m always myself and always have a lot of fun in what I do. I think it's important to enjoy life and enjoy what you do. I learned that's what I want to do. I want to enjoy my life and just try to have fun.

Shereen Bhan: You're a very provocative person as well. We've seen you making a statement: I remember the US Open when you walked out when there was a controversial call and you walked out with an orange t-shirt that said the ball was actually in. Not a lot of sportspeople would actually go out to make that sort of a statement. But, that's who you are, right?

Serena Williams: Yeah! The ball was clearly in. Whatever, I kind of let that go years ago.

Shereen Bhan: Give us a sense of a day when you're not actually on the court and you're not competing as part of a tournament. What is a regular day for you like?

Serena Williams: I don't have a regular day at all. Every day varies. I can't even give anyone an actual day. I'm always doing something different.

Shereen Bhan: Are you a very emotional person? Because we've heard or seen reports of you breaking down at press conferences and so on and so forth. Do you get caught up in the moment?

Serena Williams: I would say I'm very emotional. I'm very sensitive.

Shereen Bhan: Sensitive to what? Would it be criticism or...?

Serena Williams: Well, not criticism. Just in general. I'm not necessarily sensitive with the press, media and things like that, but in other aspects of my life. But, I definitely do wear my emotions on my sleeve.

Shereen Bhan: Does it bother you the fact that there's constant media attention, there's constant media glare? Every moment of your life is being looked at, analysed, talked about. Does that bother you at all? Or have you just gotten used to it?

Serena Williams: I've gotten used to it. I mean, sometimes it's hard if it's your personal life. Or, you're just hanging out. Or, you write something and people take it out of context. That can be difficult. But, other than that, yeah.

Shereen Bhan: So, who would you regard as your mentor? I know your dad has played a big part in your career for both you and Venus. But, who would you really regard as your mentor?

Serena Williams: My mentor, I don't know. I always admired what my parents did, and what they still do to this day. They're just amazing people.

Shereen Bhan: I remember your dad pulled you off the national tour in 1991, because of racist instances. But do you think that because of you and Venus, things have really changed for African Americans?

Serena Williams: Well, my dad didn't pull me and my sister off, for racism. He just didn't want us to be involved in it. He wanted us to go practice, train and get ready for the real deal.

Shereen Bhan: But, did you ever have to face any racism while you were actually playing?

Serena Williams: I mean we live in a society in the United States where 40 years ago we were dealing with a lot of things in the United States.

Shereen Bhan: It's different now, you think?

Serena Williams: I would say only 40 years ago, you're dealing with segregation and things of that nature. So, it's really not that long of a time. It's only maybe one generation. So yes, there's still some things out there for sure.

Shereen Bhan: Just in terms of being a brand ambassador for your country as well, because there's been so much talk and so much written about, do you try and clear those misconceptions? Do you try to clear the air about what America stands for today?

Serena Williams: You know what, I just think that if you lead a good example, then hopefully people see what you are. I pretty much stand for myself. I don't know if I stand for America. I can't say I do. I can only be myself because there's so many different personalities in America. So, it's not like I can be the one person that stands for my country.

Shereen Bhan: Yeah, but you're a young person, you're an achiever who has pretty much gone out and done whatever you needed to do on your own, independently, and against the odds, battling a lot of the challenges. So, in a sense, you're a symbol of hope and aspiration.

Serena Williams: Thank you. Thank you very much.

Shereen Bhan: So, apart from the clothesline, are we actually going to see you get involved in any other sort of business activities?

Serena Williams: I hope so. Like I said, I have a creative brain. And, I really think I would just love to be some type of, some form of an entrepreneur. But, as long as I'm enjoying myself, I think that’s what matters most.

Shereen Bhan: Any plans of retiring? Or, are you having too much fun at the moment?

Serena Williams: Right now I'm having way too much fun. I can't even look that far in the future.

Shereen Bhan: Well, Serena, thanks very much for joining us on CNBC-TV18. It's been an absolute pleasure. We wish you the very best of luck, and we hope that you'll come back to India as well.

Transcriptions by: Arunima Rao

Arunima Rao interned with Young Turks from April to June 2021

Twitter: @_arunimarao