While his daughters make headlines with their brand of tennis, father Williams does so with his statements. Unafraid to speak his mind, Williams, who was in the Garden City last week for the Bangalore Open, spoke to Deccan Herald on Venus and Serena's early years and about a life beyond the baseline. Excerpts:

Growing up, did Venus and Serena rebel against playing tennis?
No, I don't think so, but I wanted Venus to start running track by the time she was nine years old. She wanted to keep on playing tennis. Serena will always do what Venus does. No matter what Venus does in tennis everyday, Serena will do what Venus does.

Did they have interests other than tennis in their formative years?
Yeah, they had lots of interests. Education, playing games, reading all kind of books… They were lot of other things they were really, really interested in.

Did they excel in any other sports?
I think both of them would have been great golfers. They used to hit golf balls when they were small. They didn't have a handicap, they didn't play that good. But you could see their strokes and their techniques were there.

How were they as kids?
We didn't have any problems with Venus and Serena when they were kids, because they always had interests in things that they wanted to do. If they couldn't find one I found one for them.

I strongly believe that family is the greatest institution that a human being can have. They were institutionalised to do things and learn to do other things other than tennis.

Did you have a back-up plan for them?
I knew they were going to be good anyway. I certainly did. Venus wanted to be an anthropologist and Serena wanted to be a veterinarian. They loved education so much to this day.

The two never did well at the same time, especially in the Grand Slams, what was the problem?
I think it might have been the media. I think it might have been the players in the media. When my girls win, they always said they won too much.

When they didn't win, something was wrong with them. I think this is the worst media job that they have done on any human being in the world.

If I was them I would have quit. They made enough money, they have enough money. When Venus plays or Serena plays, they draw more people than anyone in the world. It doesn't matter if they are No 1 or No 301, they always draw people. If someone else was No 1, it was good for tennis, if it was Blacks, it was not. I think it was ridiculous what they did to my two girls.

How did it affect you and your family?
It didn't affect us. We were trained for something like that. Tennis is a prejudice game. Well, I'm Black and I'm prejudiced, very prejudiced. I'll be always prejudiced as the White man. The White man hated me all my life and I hate him. That's no secret. I'm not even an American, it just so happens that I was born in America. People are prejudiced in tennis. I don't think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be. But if you get some little White no good trasher in America like Tracy Austin or Chris Evert who cannot hit the ball, they will claim this is great.

What's your opinion on the depth in women's tennis?
I haven't seen the best players yet. The best players are in the ghetto here in India and in the ghetto in Compton. Those kids don't get a chance.

If you could teach them tennis, maybe in ten years you will see real tennis players. If you give the ghetto players the opportunities, you see better tennis players, better soccer players and you will see the best of the best.
I don't think no one is interested in poor people. Everyone likes you to say something nice, why don't we all do something nice. And if we do that, we will have something going.

Your daughters have been plagued by injuries in recent times. Do you think they can reclaim the No 1 spot?
I think they are No 1 right now as far as I'm concerned. They have always been No 1 before they were No 1 to me. I think they can easily be No 1 in women's tennis. They have speed, they have power. Right now, they are more interested in learning to develop more businesses.

There were taught that there is a life behind the baseline. If you look at most of your tennis players when they are finished playing tennis, where are they going? Look at (John) McEnroe, (Martina) Navratilova, Vijay Amritraj, look at all of them. All their lives they have been in sports, where are they now? Do you want that for your child?
You go spend 20 years playing tennis and another 20 years announcing tennis, that is 40 years of your life, you mean, you never learnt anything else!?

My daughters are not that way, they'll never be that way either. My daughters go to college. They own businesses and run businesses. So when they are out of tennis, they will keep on making tons and tons and millions and millions. There (pointing to Venus), I'm not looking at a tennis player, that's a business lady. And she understands it.

How long do you see them playing tennis?
They will quit when they get ready. I don't see it. Doubt to see it. Whenever it is, it'll be their decision.