17 things we learned watching the must-see Serena Williams documentary
The full-length documentary Serena, a look at Serena Williams' historic 2015 season, debuted this week on EPIX and was instantly available on-demand. Though it has highs and lows (which we'll get to), the film is a must-watch for tennis fans, sports fans and anyone interested in the most powerful, mysterious, calculating, impenetrable, fascinating woman in sports. Here are 17 things we learned about Serena from Serena. Watch it yourself to learn many, many more.
1. The U.S. Open has an exit sign that features a shouting Serena as deterrence.
2. We knew the name of Serena's dog already. What we didn't know was that she uses his full name when he's being bad.
3. Serena apparently did not take The (texting while driving) Pledge. She should be expecting an angry phone call from my mom in approximately 45 minutes.
4. Serena quotes Friday during practice, completely confusing her French coach Patrick Mouratoglou who, suffice it to say, has never seen the film.
5. Serena keeps her four Olympic golds in the same spot you keep your flashlight and batteries.
6. If you thought Serena was being melodramatic at the French Open with talk of the flu, this picture (taken after she had a homemade steam bath over a stovetop) will set you straight.
7. Serena likes to watch match points of Grand Slams on her computer hours after her victory.
8. She will accompany this with theatrical opera singing.
9. The real celebration comes later though when she watches The Little Mermaid on her laptop while curled up in bed.
10. Serena foretold Beyonce's Lemonade album months in advance.
11. Billie Jean King will give Serena a free tennis lesson after she struggles at Wimbledon. (This was after Serena nearly, and probably should have, lost to world No. 59 Heather Watson.) It wasn't some piece of advice in passing either it was a two-minute coaching session. (The gist: When coming to net, take balls out of the air.)
12. Though nothing can replicate the experience, Serena does its best work when showing the awkwardness, confusion and hurt Serena feels before her matches against Venus. During this Wimbledon hug (after Serena's fourth-round win), it was Venus who said "I'm sorry."
13. Serena still doesn't understand what she did wrong in her infamous 2009 rant at the U.S. Open. "Yeah I get angry on the court," she says. "So did McEnroe, so did all these other players. One slip up and it 'oh she’s crazy or whatever.'" All these years later, she still can't acknowledge she was in the wrong.
The doc is too hagiographic to delve into the issue with any seriousness and equates the "shove it done your [expletive] throat" moment with the phony, contrived "crip walk" controversy at the Olympics. It skips her other big U.S. Open meltdown too, as well as other behaviors and incidents (of the less confrontational nature) that have made Serena one of the most complicated figures in sports. So, don't go into watching this with any idea that this is an impartial look at the tennis great. It's essentially a 100-minute advertisement for Serena Williams. Not that there's anything wrong with that. The candid post-match conversations caught on tape are alone worth watching for.
14. Serena paints as relaxation during tournaments. This work was completed during the U.S. Open.
15. Serena and Drake were looking cozy at a karaoke bar in New York during the Open. He seemed to be whispering sweet nothings into her ear, but seeing as how Drake doesn't always write his own stuff, I have to imagine he's got a guy off camera whispering him sweet nothings to whisper to Serena.
16. The only thing that can break up an up-close chat with Drake? Gloria Estefan singing Conga.
17. It was too much to expect the documentary to give us a look at Serena after her loss to Roberta Vinci at the U.S. Open, the one that halted her Grand Slam quest three sets short of immortality. Days later, it seems, Serena is seen in bed discussing the match, still refusing to give Vinci credit but, for the first time I can remember hearing publicly, talking truthfully about the pain of the loss.
"I don’t want to talk about losing. I don't like losing. I don't want to talk about the match, I don't want to think about the match. This is the biggest moment in my career history and I didn’t get it. I’ve never been in this position. I’ve never been so close to having something and losing it - or, not getting it. [Pauses] No, losing it. I lost it. It’s not like I got beaten, I lost it."
That's a fascinating quote to parse, examine and ponder. In saying nothing, she says everything, turning the least revelatory moment in the documentary into the one that best sums up the Serena Williams experience.
