Serena and Venus Williams have another Richard Williams to thank for their tennis stardom

LOS ANGELES — Before Richard Williams taught his daughters Serena and Venus how to play tennis, he went to Richard Williams.

“King Richard,” refers to the father of the Williams' sisters and is the name of a new film starring Will Smith about how Richard Williams developed Serena and Venus into superstars. He learned from a man with the same name.

In the mid-1970s, with Serena and Venus not yet born, Richard Williams enrolled in tennis classes at Los Angeles Southwest College and met Coach Richard Williams.

“He was one of my best students because he learned so fast,’’ Coach Williams, 83, told USA TODAY Sports. “Initially he just came out there and was taking a class and he just got into it. Once he got into it, oh, my God. He was really out there playing.