King Richard Review - Prodigy Maker Show Episode 59

Chris Lewit · King Richard Reflections – Prodigy Maker Show Episode 59

I finally had a chance to watch “King Richard”, one of the best tennis films I have seen— perhaps ever—and I would like to share my thoughts as both a high-performance coach and parent. Richard Williams was wonderfully portrayed by Will Smith who delivered a powerful performance. The acting—by all involved—was excellent overall and even the tennis technique was fairly close to the actual strokes of the sisters and their competitors, which helped the realism of the film. It is very difficult to find good actors who can also demonstrate decent technique and make it all work in a dramatic movie. It was cool that the actor portraying Venus even mimicked the hitch in her two-handed backhand.

I’m interested in the level of accuracy of the story that was portrayed in the movie. For example, Richard Williams was a chronic smoker and this aspect was not included in the film. Another discrepancy was when Rick Macci visited the Williams family in Compton. In his excellent and highly recommended book, Macci Magic, Rick has a slightly different version of events as they transpired. For example, Macci says in his book that Richard did not commit until months later—not immediately as depicted in the film. Another discrepancy in the film is that the breakup of Macci and Richard—which is notorious in the tennis world—is never presented. Macci discusses the split at length in his book. Richard got a deal with Reebok and bought a house in West Palm Beach, hired away a couple of Macci’s hitters, and started coaching the girls himself, according to Rick, in Macci Magic. In addition, Richard tried to change all the terms of Rick’s contract, which Rick refused to accept. Rick admits that the rift was so great that he prepared a 14 million dollar lawsuit against Richard. Yet, in the book and in many recent media interviews, Macci claims Richard and he were best friends. That’s hard to believe. Overall, however, Macci has claimed the movie is very accurate.

Discrepancies aside, the movie is riveting and dramatic, and it holds many lessons for parents and coaches. It is interesting that the movie juxtaposes the pressures of the father with the pressures applied by the coach. In the film, Richard clearly accuses Rick of malpractice with Capriati, highlighting her fall from grace and turn to drugs, a situation that Macci laughed off and minimized in the film. Rick, in turn, accuses Richard of putting too much pressure on the girls by billing them as the next great champions all the time. Those countervailing positions are intriguing. You have two men tied up in a business deal together with a lot of money at stake, and they are both accusing each other of pushing the girls too hard to get success. The film suggests that Richard saved the girls from a similar fate as Capriati. I wonder if this is how the story really went—or if it was Rick who tried to protect the girls from their father.

The film’s condemnation of the junior circuit is striking. Richard repeatedly suggests that the junior circuit is worse than Compton, the way the kids and the parents behave. He says that junior parents “should be shot”. This is the real dirty truth of the junior tennis game that the current powers that be do not want to address. Cheating is rampant and behavior is at a nadir for both players and parents. Rick has stated in interviews that he agrees that cheating is out of control in junior tennis.

The film spends a significant amount of time presenting the contributions of Paul Cohen, who I never knew helped the sisters—and I’m in the business. The influence of his coaching is important to note for the historical record. (And the fact that he coached the girls for free and did not appear to receive any compensation, at least not as shown in the film).

While I have the utmost respect for Rick Macci is a talented coach, the audience is left to wonder whether he is also an equally gifted gambler. I have argued in the past that the most successful junior coaches have the qualities of a great stock trader and investor. I’m not sure if his portrayal in the movie was entirely positive. He is portrayed as a quirky, funny, fast-talking, charismatic, and hard-charging coach. The film makes a point that his student Capriati was a tremendous prodigy but then fell to personal problems and burnout. Those in the tennis world also know that another Macci prodigy, Tommy Ho, who was mentioned in the film, didn’t accomplish nearly as much success on tour as in his junior career, a sensitive topic that Rick explains away in Macci Magic, saying that Tommy just wasn’t “athletic” enough to make it higher than about #80 singles and #7 doubles in the world.

It appears that even the most gifted coaches may need to roll the dice on talented players in order to reach superstardom. The level of financial output that Macci gave to the Williams family is shocking, and according to Macci Magic, most of the funding went unpaid back to Rick. According to Rick in Macci Magic, he settled for a much smaller amount with the family rather than implementing the 14 million dollar lawsuit.

As a high-performance coach myself, I’m left to wonder if the way to the top of the coaching world inherently involves a financial gamble like the one Macci took, or if a talented coach can develop a champion without such a monetary sacrifice. Do any of our most famous coaches accept payment for their most gifted players? In Macci Magic, Rick says that Tommy Ho’s family, for example, paid him throughout their relationship.

In a telling scene in the movie, Richard refers to the lower-level players at Macci’s academy as “chum.” Macci replies, “You need a few cheeseburgers to pay for the sirloin. You sell enough sirloin you can get the filet mignon.” It’s a cynical view. I know the academy business often works that way, but I wonder if there are elite coaches who don’t work that way. Or do they go out of business because they can’t compete? Surely, the movie asks the question for all junior coaches if they were blessed to encounter a player of supreme ability, would they sacrifice as much as Macci did to achieve greatness? Or would they say “no thanks,” like Vic Braden and numerous other coaches did in the film?

The fascinating choice Richard made was to make his girls his family business. Rather than building a successful career himself and supporting his family, which most cultures highly value and encourage fathers, he took an iconoclastic approach. In essence, his girls were his family business in the most entrepreneurial sense. Thus, he operated bare-bones start-up for many years with a delayed payoff. He, therefore, needed a stable income from his wife to help support the family.

This role of father-entrepreneur is unusual in a world that typically tells men to “bring home the bacon” in a traditional job. I see this type of father or mother from time to time in my coaching. It’s an all-in gamble and approach. If the “business” fails it can be devastating for the family. Indeed, even if it works, as in the case of Richard Williams and his girls, the toll on the family unit may be severe, as it was on the relationship between Oracene and Richard.

Parents have to decide what is the most ethical and healthy way to raise their children and build their families. Parents must decide whether they are willing to take an entrepreneurial gamble with their kid or, rather, focus their energy on another career field to earn money for the kid’s training and expenses. I’m certain that conservatively wired parents will not be inclined to roll the dice like Richard did—too much downside risk. I am also continually amazed at the level of personal deprivation exhibited by fathers (and mothers) like Richard who takes on the unusual parenting/coaching/entrepreneurial role. They sacrifice almost everything for the child, leaving little room for personal aspirations. You have to be uniquely wired to see the world this way and live this way.

Parents of champions can either make money off-court and parlay those earnings into the player’s development, or they can actively make the kid’s tennis their business and life’s work. Typically you see parents who embrace this latter role when the focus is on grand slams and a big-money payoff, not simply playing college ball.

One key takeaway is the powerful message of the film about the poison of the junior tennis tour and the genius of Richard in being circumspect enough to keep the girls out of that cesspool as much as he could. It’s a lesson that many junior tennis players and parents and coaches should learn. It’s not always necessary to chase points and play 30+ events a year. There is another more healthy way to the top that deemphasizes tournament play or at least adjusts the frequency of tournament play down.

Another key takeaway is a challenge to parents about what role they see themselves playing in their child’s development. Will they adopt a passive role, a semi-active role, or make their child’s tennis into a full-time entrepreneurial venture? It’s important for parents to identify what role they would like to play in their child’s tennis development. It’s also important for parents to decide whether they want to take on the risk that Richard took with his girls and family. With great risk comes great reward, but also the chance of catastrophic failure.

Another thought is that coaches and parents should probably be wary to assume what Richard did can be duplicated. I have met some parents who echo the actions and words of Richard; some who have even studied his approach in detail and copied much of what he did, assuming it will work again. All coaches and parents should be judicious and understand that the remarkable success of Richard and his daughters is truly a miracle and may not ever happen again in our lifetime.

Parents, coaches, and players should definitely watch this film! There is a lot to contemplate. Please let me know your thoughts by shooting me an email.

You can also learn more about the junior development journey on my podcast, The Prodigy Maker Show, available on all your favorite podcasting platforms.