Serena Williams is back on a tennis court at 44 years old and is currently competing in doubles at the HSBC Championships. It’s a moment that has been on the radar of the entire tennis world, and there’s nobody more invested in it than the man who first witnessed what she was capable of doing decades ago.

Rick Macci, the coach who trained the Williams sisters at his West Palm Beach academy from 1991 to 1995, celebrated the milestone in the best way he could: by sharing stories that remind the world what kind of competitor is stepping onto that court.

“Serena was the nicest, meanest kid I ever taught,” Macci wrote. He did not stop there.

The stories that ensued showed a young girl who couldn’t turn off her competitive nature, be it in a game, during practice, or even at the snack table.

“Serena, as a kid, was so competitive she would even battle and scrap the Compton Dog for extra snacks I left on the table,” Macci added. “When Serena and Venus played doubles together as kids against the hitting partners, even at age 12 and 13, it was a brutal Compton street fight with both girls trying to give permanent Williams tattoos free of charge.”

The contrast between who the sisters were off the court and who they became on it was something Macci has spoken about repeatedly over the years, and it was definitely the thing that stuck with him when he coached the sisters. 

“Serena always did exactly what Venus did. Serena was her shadow. They were skipping, holding hands, playing games, and dancing. Always singing and laughing together. They were ONE, and both became number ONE,” he once wrote. 

It was the same girl who, between courts, held her sister’s hand and turned doubles practice into a street fight as the point started. That’s the Serena Williams the sport has known for three decades: warm and ferocious, in perfect harmony, without contradiction. 

The Williams family had moved from Compton, California, to West Palm Beach specifically to train under Macci, and the coach himself spent $92,000 of his own money on a motor home for them, such was his belief in what he was watching develop. He crafted a 78-page plan to turn Serena and Venus into tennis legends, starting when they were just four and a half years old, with unorthodox methods that included using worn-out balls and court obstacles to boost agility and adaptability.

Macci is a seven-time USPTA National Coach of the Year and was inducted into the USPTA Hall of Fame in 2017, becoming the youngest person ever to receive the honor. His other pupils across a career at the academy include Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, and Jennifer Capriati. He knew what an elite looked like before the Williams sisters came along. He has said repeatedly that he had never seen anything like them. 

Macci has noted Serena was not the more talented of the two early on. Venus was the standout early on, and Serena herself has admitted as much. Many things distinguished Serena from the others in those early years, but it was not natural ability. It was the competitive ferocity that Macci’s posts capture so vividly. There was no way out of the street fight for the girl who went head-to-head with a dog over snacks and doubles practice. 

The competitive fire that never left

Rick Macci’s timing is no coincidence. Her old coach is reminding players who need it what this woman has always been made of as Serena returns to the court. 

“Richard never carried the girls’ bag. Never carried the girls’ water. Never carried the girls’ dog. He was all about owning it, not renting it. His life lessons instilled a rough, tough mentality the world has never seen,” Macci once wrote of Richard Williams. 

The comeback is happening at 44, having been away for almost four years, and it’s entirely consistent with that upbringing.

“They never made excuses. Excuses were illegal in the Williams family,” Macci has said. A player shaped by that code does not retire quietly simply because the calendar has moved on.

Williams won her first match back on Tuesday, partnering 19-year-old Victoria Mboko to a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe at the HSBC Championships. Her own judgement of the performance was as unsparing as ever.

“I need to make some returns next match. I didn’t miss one in practice. But ugh, that was a little embarrassing out there. The good news is I can do better.” 

It’s the opinion of a woman who’s been living by the same rules ever since she was 12, fighting for snacks at a West Palm Beach tennis academy. Macci would know it right away.

The sport has changed since those days. The players are younger, faster, and fitter than ever. In 2026, the WTA will be unlike the one Williams dominated for 30 years. The nicest, meanest kid Rick Macci ever taught is back on a tennis court, and she is already telling anyone who will listen that she can do better. That ought to be sufficient warning for anyone who is Serena Williams’ next target.