"I was born to win, Venus Williams said she didn't have that" - Serena Williams makes bold claim about her competitive nature

Serena Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. How does one become the greatest tennis player of all time, though? That's a question many don't know the proper answer to, but when it comes to Serena herself, she is of the opinion that part of that comes from simply being born a certain way and part of that is simply nurturing a winning mentality.

She spoke about this during a recent appearance at the New York Times DealBook Summit. When asked by the moderator whether you have to be born with a champion's mentality to become one, Williams shared an example from her own life contrasting the experiences of herself and her sister.

She declared that she was born with it, that innate feeling of wanting more and wanting to win. It was evident from the earliest stage but she does believe that it's also part nurture.

"I think it's definitely a little nurture but also something that's innate. I was born to win. We used to have these talent show and if I didn't win the talent show, I would go nuts. I would cry, throw a fit... It was innate for me to always have this drive to be the best and to win. (10:30 onwards)

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Difference from sister

Serena Williams felt that the nurture part mostly comes from her having observed her sister grow into a mentality which to her was mostly innate. Further, she claimed that contrary to herself, who was born with it, her sister didn't really have it.

Venus is also a legendary player who won 7 Grand Slams in her career. So she's no stranger to doing amazing things, but she had to work her way to get to that level.

Per Serena, Venus said that she didn't have the same winning drive that Serena had from birth, but she worked her way to become a champion. Serena noted:

"That part was innate and Venus always said that she didn't have that part. She learned it... I think you can get it both ways. I think it's good that if you don't have something, you can still develop it later on by working on it." (11:25 onwards)

As Serena explained, there are multiple ways you can become a champion. Some, like herself, are possibly more predisposed to it, while others can work their way towards it. It ultimately means that it's attainable, and with anything in sport, tennis being no different, it takes a lot of effort and work to get to that level, but it can be done.