Serena Williams’ Legacy, On and Off the Court

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“This is it, the end of a story that started in Compton, California, with a little Black girl who just wanted to play tennis,” said Serena Williams in her retirement announcement in Vogue magazine. For nearly three decades, Williams has dominated and transformed the sport of tennis. Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, 14 major championships in doubles with her sister, Venus, and four Olympic gold medals. Considered by many to be the GOAT, or greatest of all time, Williams has been an inspiration to a generation of tennis players, and her career has had special resonance for Black women, on and off the court. We’ll talk about her legacy and we want to hear from you: What has Serena Williams meant to you? Guests: Gerry Marzaroti, journalist, New Yorker Magazine; author, "Seeing Serena" Cecil Harris, veteran sports reporter; host, podcast docuseries "All-American: Venus & Serena"; author, "Different Strokes: Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution," and "Charging the Net: A History of Blacks in Tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe to the Williams Sisters" Suzette Hackney, deputy editor and national columnist, USA TODAY LZ Granderson, columnist, The Los Angeles Times; host, "Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson" podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho La Puerta, boated the number one wellness resort and spa by readers of travel and leisure magazine in 2024.
0:09.7	In August, three or four people sharing a cassita enjoy special vacation packages that include hiking, mindfulness, and fitness classes, in a garden setting on 4,000 verdant acres of nature preserve.
0:22.4	Check in to summer at Rancho LaPorta, Rancho LaPorta.com.
0:26.6	Support for Forum comes from Broadway S.F. presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:34.4	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:40.6	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:46.3	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and
0:53.2	devotion.
1:02.1	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orphium Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
1:06.4	Tickets on sale now at Broadway, sF.com.
1:09.0	From KQED.
1:29.2	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Ariana Prail in Fermina Kim.
1:37.4	For more than two decades, sports icon and tennis megastar Serena Williams has dominated and transformed the sport of tennis.
1:46.3	Now, as she announced last week in an essay for Vogue magazine, she is evolving away from the sport and set to hang up her racket after this year's U.S. Open.
1:53.0	Considered by many to be the goat the greatest of all time, Williams has been an inspiration to a generation of tennis players,
1:57.3	and her career has had special resonance for black women on and off the court.
2:01.9	We'll talk about her legacy, and we want to know what has Serena Williams meant to you.
2:04.0	We'll hear from you after this news.
2:13.3	This is Forum. I'm Ariana Prail in for Mina Kim.
2:20.2	Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It's been a joy playing in front of you guys all these years. So thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It's been a joy planning for you guys all these years. So thank you.
2:30.2	That's the voice of tennis icon Serena Williams thanking fans at Toronto's National Bank Open last week following her final match in the city.
2:35.2	The day before, she'd revealed her plans to, quote, evolve away from tennis. She doesn't like the word retirement. And will leave the sport she's played and loved nearly her entire life
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.