In the "King Richard" biopic, only Venus and Serena Williams' father are praying. It happened at a fast food restaurant in Compton, California. Richard (Will Smith) and his wife Aunjanue Ellis were having a burger and fries dinner with their five daughters. .
"Dear Father, Jehovah God," Richard began, "We thank you for providing these foods. We ask you to bless the hands of those who prepare these foods. Thank you for this opportunity to bring the family together. We ask Please don't let anyone gain weight from eating these foods. We pray in the name of Jesus, amen."
The girls humorously asked God not to get fat and giggled to their father, but they didn’t know that earlier that day, a professional tennis coach that Richard was trying hard to find basically crushed him against Venus and Serena. The vision of becoming a world champion. The coach told Richard, who seemed thoughtful, that a person with limited financial resources was "very, very unlikely" to achieve such a feat for a child, let alone two.
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Then, the coach ended their brief meeting with a cold handshake and told Richard, "Maybe you can prove me wrong." Well, we all know that Richard did more than just prove him wrong. , Because Venus and Serena are the two most accomplished female athletes in the history of professional tennis. However, as far as that moment in the movie is concerned, it shows how Richard was weighed heavily on him by the sting of successive rejections. Neither the coach nor the others with whom Richard dared to talk to the trendy country club had seen his daughter's potential. Richard was severely judged for lack of material, and I believe that after these humiliating experiences, he said more prayers.
When watching "King Richard", I have been thinking about two popular phrases in many African-American churches, "tell it" and "write a vision." The latter comes from Habakkuk 2:2-3, where God told the prophet to "write down the vision" and "wait for it: because it will come, it will not stay." Although Richard is sometimes stubborn and demanding , But he has the patience to wait and fight for the right opportunities for his daughter.
His persistence led to Venus becoming a professional player at the age of 14. She lost to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the Western Bank Classic in Oakland in 1994. Long before the vision board became popular, Richard wrote a 78-page plan outlining the glorious tennis careers of Venus and Serena. He literally stated their future by simply declaring that they would be great.
However, professional speech is not Richard's strong point, which may cause him not to be taken seriously by most of the coaches he contacted, as well as many media criticisms he later received from personal interviews. The heavy southern drag from Shreveport, Louisiana is deeply rooted in Compton. Just as in his prayer, Richard would say "peoples" instead of "people", and "dey" instead of "their" or "they", but he refused to let his slurs hinder him from treating himself Vision. family.
We will continue to witness the extraordinary dreams that Richard showed. Serena is currently in the DIRECTV STREAM advertisement as the tennis version of Wonder Woman fighting a cunning automatic ball launcher in a shopping mall. In the ad, the overhead shot she hit left a soda stain on John McEnroe's perfect white Nike shorts. "King Richard" showed Venus and Serena's short stay in front of McEnroe and Pete Sampras in the early 1990s, as their father persuaded McEnroe and Sampras' coaches to let the girls Play a few balls.
McEnroe, known for his grumpiness in the game, sulked as he walked away to rest. He didn't know that Serena, who won 23 Grand Slam titles in nearly 30 years, would be considered the greatest tennis player of all time. It's amazing how things will happen when you never give up your vision.