"There’s Tequanda... Rough, she is not Christian, from the ’hood" - When Serena Williams shed light on the multiple personalities inside her head

Serena Williams, widely considered one of the greatest tennis players, once opened up about the fact that she has multiple personas within her that come out depending on the task at hand. Funnily enough, the American blamed one of those for her controversial behavior at the 2009 US Open.

Speaking in a Showtime documentary titled 'Venus and Serena,' the 23-time Grand Slam champion revealed that one of her personalities was named 'Summer,' whom she used for relaxing tasks like writing letters. On the other end of the spectrum was 'Tequanda,' a rough personality from the 'hood' who helped Williams deal with unsavory matters.

“I definitely have different personas,” Williams said.

“There’s Summer. She helps me out a lot. Like, if I have to write long letters. [Then] there’s Tequanda. Tequanda is rough. She is not Christian. She’s from the ’hood. She was at the US Open in 2009,” she added.

One such unsavory matter happened in the semifinals of the 2009 US Open when a foot-fault call led to a loss for the former World No. 1 against Kim Clijsters. Serena Williams, however, felt the call was wrong from the lineswoman and threatened her, resulting in a very heated moment that sent shockwaves across the tennis world.

"I swear to God I'm ... going to take this ... ball and shove it down your ... throat, you hear that? I swear to God," Williams reportedly said.

Serena Williams on her reaction to the US Open call: "I did not threaten"

Western & Southern Open - Day 4 - Source: Getty

Serena Williams spoke about the US Open incident after the match, stating that she never threatened the lineswoman and that her words just came out in the heat of the moment. At the same time, the 23-time Grand Slam champion maintained that the foot-fault was not correct and that she would never have taken such a mistake sitting down.

"I said something that I guess they gave me a point penalty. Unfortunately it was on match point," Williams said after the match. "I didn't threaten. I was in the moment and everyone's fighting for every point."

"I've never been foot-faulted [all year] and then suddenly in this tournament they keep calling foot faults. I'm not going to sit here and make an excuse. If I foot-fault, I did. It is what it is and that's basically all it was."

After a career lasting more than two decades, Williams hung up racket in 2022, with her final match coming at the US Open.