TTW haters are always gonna justify their obvious hate. Now, they wish to criticize a major motion picture that is months away from being released. Nothing New to see here, simply the next round. There is going to be major exposure for the game of tennis which will be very good and positive. Still, haters gonna find a way to justify their hate on that.
The reality is that Richard Williams' vision, execution, and commitment to his dream changed tennis, and professional tennis as we know it today.
Early on, RW was criticized for not having his daughters play much of a junior schedule. He was just way beyond everyone else in his thinking that, why spend the time and expense to have his daughters play against the future world number 200 and future number 500. He know that the future number one and number two players were both down the hall and could stay home and improve their games by playing with and against one another.
The women's game did not receive equal prize money, at the majors, until Venus and Serena were playing major finals against one another. The Women's final at the USO was even moved to prime time due to the increased viewership for those matches. The results of Chrissy, Martina, Billie Jean, Graf and the entire history of the women's game did not achieve that without the results of RW's daughters.
Five, ten, fifteen years ago, TTW geniuses criticized Venus and Serena for, "not playing a full schedule." Many writing that they could never consider, "part-time" players for the title of GOAT. The rest of the pro tour was just slow to catchup and realize that longevity makes a better career than playing every event and sprinting to get rich while the getting was good. Recent history is that Rafa was often "injured" during the hardcore seasons and Fed was often "injured' during the clay court season. Now, most players are pacing themselves to ensure longevity.
Both of his daughters graduated high school and continued their educations while playing pro ball. Definitely not the norm for the time including, most top players today. That set a positive example for future players.
He may be the only person in tennis history, certainly among the very few, that handed a player their first racquet and coached that player to major titles. RW did it with two players. Multiple major titles in Singles, Doubles, and Mixed.
We see this on the regular. Many past and current top professional players have thanked, and or articulated that Venus and Serena were their inspiration for beginning to play tennis. I am sure that an even larger number that play but never made it close to the tour level, feel the same way.
So thank you, King Richard!!
Sincerely, The Game of Tennis