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Richard Williams watching his daughter Venus at the 2007 Acura Classic.

Richard Williams (born 1942) is an American tennis coach. He is best known for being the father of Serena and Venus Williams, both former World No.1 tennis players and multi-grand slam winners.

Richard Williams met his wife, Oracene, when both were young. In 1979, the couple got married and lived in Lansing, Michigan. Oracene had three daughters with her former husband, Yusef Rasheed. Richard also had children from a former marriage.

Richard and Oracene eventually moved west, settling in the Los Angeles Compton area; Richard Williams would later make public his pride in having lived in Compton.

Richard Williams is said to have dreamed of a better future for his five daughters, and wanted at least one of them to succeed in sports. He began to take his daughters to Compton public tennis courts, where, according to his daughters' accounts, they had to get down on the ground one time to avoid bullets fired during an apparent drive-by.^{[citation needed]}

Williams soon got his daughters into California tennis tournaments. But the Williamses reportedly suffered racism while competing in California.^{[citation needed]} That experience may^{[citation needed]} have prompted some of the outspoken comments Williams would later on make to the media.

As 2000 began, Venus Williams was recovering from tendinitis on both wrists. She was forced to stay out of the women's tennis tour for almost half of the year. According to Venus Williams, she and her father spent most of their time watching Zorro on television at home.

Richard and Venus Williams went back on the road, flying to France for that year's French Open. Soon after, they went to England for the Wimbledon competition.

After his daughter's victory over Davenport, Williams jumped over the NBC broadcasting booth, catching Chris Evert by surprise and performing a triumphant dance. Evert said that the broadcasters "thought the roof was coming down". He displayed his pride in having lived in Compton by shouting Straight out of Compton! after the match was over.

On March 26, 2001, Venus and Serena Williams experienced problems with the organizers, referees and some fans at the Indian Wells, California tennis tournament. Richard Williams told CNN that the boos by a small group of fans towards his daughters were motivated by racism. These comments proved controversial, and such outlets as Sports Illustrated spoke about them for many months after he declared them. Among the controversial comments he made were the following:

• It's the worst act of prejudice I've seen since they killed Martin Luther King
• That's the hardest time in the world I've ever had
• I'll never go to Indian Wells again, because I believe that guy would skin me alive
• The girls (the Williams sisters' competitors) that play professional tennis are always saying something about me. The only way those girls get their names in the paper, they would have to say something about me. Otherwise, no one would write about them..

On September 14, 2003, Richard Williams suffered tragedy, as his stepdaughter, Yetunde Price, was shot to death while riding in a car with her boyfriend in Compton.

• SportsIllustrated.com, about the Indian Wells incident