Rick Macci on Serena and Venus Williams’ Cincinnati Reunion: ‘They Can Still Win Any Tournament’

Serena Williams and Venus Williams are set to reunite on the doubles court at the Cincinnati Open.  

The Williams sisters have been awarded a doubles wild card for the Aug. 8-23 tournament, giving one of the most decorated doubles teams in tennis history a chance to compete together in Cincinnati for the first time.

As a team, Serena and Venus have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals. Their most recent doubles appearance together came at the 2022 US Open.

Rick Macci, who famously coached Serena and Venus Williams early in their careers and was portrayed in the blockbuster film King Richard, believes their doubles chemistry still makes them dangerous against anyone.

Top left: Macci training Venus Williams on-court in the early days. Top right: Macci with the Williams family when the sisters were young. Bottom: Venus Williams, Rick Macci, and Serena Williams at the King Richard premiere party. Photos courtesy of Rick Macci Tennis Academy.

“One of the greatest doubles teams of all time,” Macci told Florida Tennis. “They were 14-0 in Grand Slam finals. If they had played more together, who knows — they could’ve had 30.”

Macci said the sisters’ doubles style was never conventional. “It wasn’t classic doubles. It was more like a Compton street fight — take the return early, hit it at the net person and game on,” he said. “Very different mindset to play doubles. Two sisters like no others, two peas in a pod. Playing doubles together, they can still win any tournament and a Grand Slam because you’re only covering half the court, and they still have the serves, the return and the firepower. But all that aside, it’s just great for tennis to see two of the best of all time teaming up again.”

Macci had predicted the reunion months earlier, telling Florida Tennis in January that Serena and Venus would play doubles together again.

Above: Venus Williams and Serena Williams. Photo credit: Edwin Martinez from The Bronx, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Venus Williams has also received a singles wild card into the Cincinnati Open. She is joined on the women’s singles wild card list by Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend, Darja Vidmanova, Elvina Kalieva, Caroline Dolehide and Lois Boisson.

For Venus, Cincinnati has been a familiar stop during her long WTA career. She owns a 12-10 career record at the tournament, reached the semifinals in 2012 and advanced to the quarterfinals in 2019. The 46-year-old first played on the WTA Tour in 1994 and has won 49 career singles titles, including seven major singles championships and the 2000 Olympic gold medal. She also held the WTA No. 1 ranking for 11 weeks.

Above: Serena Williams and Venus Williams. Photo credit: Edwin Martinez1, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Cincinnati Open begins Aug. 8-9 with Community Weekend before main-draw matches get underway on Aug. 11. Finals Weekend, presented by Credit One Bank, will take place Aug. 22-23, with both the men’s and women’s singles finals scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 23.

Founded in 1899, the Cincinnati Open is an ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournament. The event most recently welcomed more than 285,000 fans from all 50 states and 65 countries and has been viewed in 187 global markets.

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Written by Florida Tennis Editor Matt Pressman. Photo credit (top, left): Rick Macci Tennis Academy. Photo credit (top, right): Marianne Bevis via Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0.

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