Venus and Serena Williams have essentially reached the point of tennis gods. The two, as sisters, rivals, teammates and champions, have defined the sport unlike any other tennis player in the last 15 years, a point that the documentary “Venus and Serena” makes fervently clear.
Following the pair from their origins in Compton, Calif., with a surprisingly extensive amount of archive footage, directors Maiken Baird and Michelle Major show the struggles both girls have had to deal with from a young age. As children, the Williamses had enough talent to hold their own against any suspicious or skeptical coach. But as they grew, the problems they would face became imminent, in the form of racism and personal attacks from others, and physical ailments that hinder their playing to this day.
“Venus and Serena” shows a side to the private lives of the Williams sisters that even the biggest tennis fan would find gratifyingly refreshing. Behind-the-scenes looks at workout sessions and gatherings of friends don’t go extremely in depth on their routines, the two still being relatively protective of their lifestyle. But enough footage is shown of them to relate on a personal level, despite the inspiringly frequent snippets of trophy-winning success.
The pacing and structure of the film remain its greatest setback throughout. “Venus and Serena” starts with a well-edited montage of the sisters’ career, showing all their accomplishments and important matches in a series of clips that would have served wonderfully as the documentary’s commercial trailer. The excitement dies down, however, once the film adopts a relatively slow pace to watch as the sisters learn tennis in a Compton public court.
Unusually, the film follows two different plotlines. One is a chronological look at the Williamses’ lives from beginning to present, portraying their highs and lows in a constructive light, supported by interviews from celebrities such as tennis legend John McEnroe and former president Bill Clinton. Another follows the sisters through the 2011 tennis season, putting the spotlight on their personal lives as they fight age and ailing health to keep their careers in peak position.
Both accounts tell an inspirational story, but in different ways. Looking back at their lives as a whole, the film describes the rise of sports legends who had the world going against them. A view of the recent past shows the athletes past their prime, but with enough passion and spirit to trudge on. Separately, the plotlines succeed in humanizing the sisters. But as the documentary throws them together, alternating back and forth between victories and troubles, a direct understanding of their careers becomes a bit harder to fathom.
Impassioned themes aid in the film’s consistency, specifically family, which remains a main focus throughout. The sisters’ father, Richard Williams, is shown as a caring, thoughtful tennis coach since giving both of his daughters the inspiration to take on the sport. His methods are unorthodox, but through comparisons of his teachings from the girls’ youth to today, “Venus and Serena” portrays him as possibly the prominent hero of the story. His ex-wife, Oracene Price, is shown as a supporting mother, though not quite as much as the protective and sometimes tempered man in charge.
Nonetheless, it’s the relationship of the sisters to one another that leads the documentary’s emotional presence. Segments of them in competition, whether winning or losing, always ends with a sibling hug, giving their support to one another consistent dominance over any difficult moments the film may show. Though the sisters have 39 different Grand Slam titles between them, those moments are far and few between.
Those without interest in tennis may end up lost, if not a bit bored, with the documentary’s confusing chronology early on. But for fans of the Williams sisters, which practically reduces to fans of tennis in general, “Venus and Serena” portrays an enveloping vision of the journey taken by two of the sport’s biggest stars.