Middlebury Magazine

  • Recent Stories
  • Menu
    • Features
    • Pursuits
    • Q&A
    • Editor’s Note
    • Old Chapel
    • Road Taken
    • Review
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • How Did You Get Here Series
    • About
    • Advertising
    • Contact
    • Support
    • Writers’ Guidelines
  • Search

Dispatches

Wait, Is That Venus Williams?

The story behind the viral video that introduces Venus Williams as a potential Panther tennis recruit.

By Matt Jennings
May 7, 2020
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • Email icon

A few weeks ago, a video began making the rounds of social media: a young woman wearing a blue hoodie with “Middlebury Tennis” emblazoned on the front appeared to be standing on a tennis court with . . . Venus Williams?

Hit “play” on the video, and you learn that the young woman is, indeed, a member of the Panther women’s tennis team; her name is Amanda Frank, and she is a first-year from south Florida. And yep, that is, indeed, Venus Williams.

In the two-minute video, Frank interviews Williams, introducing the tennis superstar as a potential Panther recruit. It’s fun. It’s funny. And it left us wondering—how in the hell did this come about? So we reached out to Amanda Frank, and this is what she had to say.

Before we start talking about the video, I’m going to ask the most obvious question: How did you come to be standing face-to-face with Venus Williams on a tennis court?!

My old coach from high school used to be Venus’s hitting partner and is friends with her current coach, who lives in Miami. About a month and a half ago, Venus’s coach was looking for a private court where she might be able to play in case the courts in south Florida started shutting down because of COVID-19. Her coach connected with my dad and asked if he and Venus could come and play at our court. Now she comes nearly every day at 4:30 to play! It’s been incredible getting to watch her and getting to know her—from a distance, of course!

Though it’s one thing to see Venus every day at your house and something else entirely to propose the idea of a video like this one.

Ha. Yeah, of course. At first, my dad and I would simply joke with each other about the idea of Venus Williams playing D-III tennis for Middlebury; we’d laugh at the thought of asking her what got her interested in Midd and specifically what about Middlebury did it for her.

After a few weeks, I got to know her little by little, and I discovered she has a terrific sense of humor. I got the feeling that we could have some fun with the idea of an interview. And she agreed! Now she asks me every day if I have heard back from Middlebury Admissions!

Venus’s sense of humor is evident throughout the whole piece, but her subtle comment about having a potential doubles partner is gold.

I know. Right when she made the subtle Serena reference, I think my heart stopped. They have both been idols of mine since I was young. Serena and her family—her husband and daughter specifically—sometimes also drop by to say hi!

‪‭Whose idea was it to edit in the clips of Venus—and then Venus and Serena? Having those clips with the announcers added another great dimension to the piece.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Thank you, I appreciate that! After we got the interview on video and I watched it back, I knew it would be perfect if I could add some context about who she was and how much she has accomplished.

What did Venus think after she watched it?

She really liked it. She thought it was funny, and I think her favorite part was the bit about her and Serena playing doubles for Midd.

Well, even if the Williams sisters never suit up for Midd, I think you’ve given Panther fans plenty of reasons to smile.

Thank you so much. This was a lot of fun to do, and it brings me so much joy to be able to bring a smile to people’s faces during this incredibly chaotic and stressful time.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Stories

Features

The Road(s)

A little over a year ago, a writing student headed south to Florida for no other reason than J-Term was forced to go remote. She soon found herself reporting on an environmental justice battle that was roiling the state.

By Alexandra Burns '21.5
Illustrations by Yevgenia Nayberg
March 2, 2022

Reverberations

A transcontinental move, a career discovered, a landmark speech studied and translated—and an identity reshaped.

By Clara Clymer, MA Translation '22
Illustration by Anna Gusella
March 2, 2022

Cult Fiction

With absurdist, yet endearing dramedies dominating popular culture, a couple of recent Midd grads have added a new title to the canon with the wonderful Youtube series The Deli People.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Photographs courtesy of L.T. Stenello Productions
February 4, 2022
Abstract illustration of a person with correspondence letters floating in the wind surrounding them.

Dear Friends . . .

On writing through grief.

By Bianca Giaever ’12.5
Illustration by Nicole Xu. Photographs by Paul Dahm
May 11, 2021

Dispatches

Sonic Art

What began as an attempt by Matthew Evan Taylor to collaborate with fellow musicians during the isolation of the pandemic ended up being a yearlong project that culminated in an evening performance at the Met.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Photograph by Josiah Bania
April 15, 2022

Poetry, In Exile

After fleeing civil unrest in her native Venezuela, a Middlebury Institute graduate student turned to poetry to help make sense of it all.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustrations by Anonymous
January 21, 2022

Inside the Ant Chamber

A visit to a Bi Hall lab affords an up-close encounter with an extremely social cohort of insects.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Clint Penick
November 12, 2021

Twenty Minutes, Twenty Years

Reflections on 9/11 as a New Yorker and Muslim American.

By Daleelah Saleh '23
Illustration by Davide Bonazzi
September 23, 2021

It’s in the Wash

Moyara Ruehsen separates fact from creative fiction in the world of criminal finance.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Elena Zhukova
September 9, 2021

From Stage to Screen

Doug Anderson has plenty of experience directing opera. But with his latest production, he faced new and unusual challenges.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Photograph by Erica Furgiuele
September 2, 2021

Film Feast

The seventh season of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival includes films from talented members of the Middlebury College community.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Photo by Mia Fichman ’19
August 19, 2021

Rock On

NASA has grand plans to collect rock samples on Mars and eventually return the material to Earth. And Drew Gorin '16 is part of a team tasked with figuring out where to collect the bounty.

By Andrew Cassel
Illustration by James Yang
July 15, 2021

A Close Study

How an art history course dedicated to an 11th-century masterpiece concluded with an unusual assignment.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Andrew Cassel
June 30, 2021
View All

Pursuits

Public Defender

On becoming one of the country's foremost cybersecurity experts.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustration by Neil Webb
April 14, 2022

Q&A

The Making of a Teacher

Hebrew Professor Michal Strier reflects on her life an education—in Israel and the States—a journey that led the Language School instructor to the undergraduate College for the first time this year.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Paul Dahm
May 19, 2022

Editor’s Note

A Brilliant Fogg

Saying goodbye to a dear colleague and friend.

By Matt Jennings
Illustration by Jody Hewgill
February 25, 2020

Old Chapel

Wired for Service

Examining the myriad ways Middlebury students and alumni continue to engage in an enduring tradition: giving back to others.

By Laurie L. Patton
Illustration by Montse Bernal
November 11, 2021

Road Taken

What to Wear Now

Through accrued life experiences, a writer discovers that a common question has become a statement of identity.

By Samantha Hubbard Shanley ’99
Illustration by Naomi Clarke
March 11, 2021

Quotation

A summer immersed in a language can do wonders, as veterans of Middlebury College’s famous language-learning program can attest. The lockdown is clearly going to amount to the equivalent of about two summers, and there are mini-Middleburys happening in millions of houses worldwide.”

—John McWhorter, writing “The Coronavirus Generation Will Use Language Differently” in the Atlantic.

Podcasts

Alone Together, Ep. 9 with Jessica St. Clair ’98 and Dan O’Brien ’96

Dan O'Brien ’96, a playwright and poet, and Jessica St. Clair ’98, a comedian and writer, join President Patton for our final check in with the community during COVID-19 self-isolation. Dan and Jessica are a true power couple in the arts that met in a Middlebury improv group. They discuss Dan's magazine essay "Life Shrinks: Lessons from Chemo Quarantine," how reopening the country feels a lot like remission, and how their art is evolving to reflect the pandemic.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 15, 2020

Alone Together, Ep. 8 with Dick Clay, Covid-19 Survivor

In this episode, Dick Clay, a student at the Bread Loaf School of English, shares his story of recovering from COVID-19. Dick discusses when the seriousness of the virus hit him, the "wilderness path to recovery," and how he will process this experience through writing.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 8, 2020

Alone Together, Ep. 7 with Jodie Keith and Jacque Bergevin, Essential Workers

In this episode, we hear from Jodie Keith and Jacque Bergevin, who have been working with custodial services to keep our Vermont campus safe and clean. Jodie and Jacque share what campus has been like since the students left: what it's like to schedule hourly sanitation of buildings, how every day feels like an empty Saturday morning, and that the infamous Middlebury squirrels have lost a bit of weight.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
Photography by Bob Handelman
June 1, 2020

Review

Editors’ Picks for March and April

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
April 4, 2022

How Did You Get Here?

Megan Job

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Leif Taranta

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Mikayla Haefele

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Videos

Pomp and Unusual Circumstances

As viewed from above.

By Chris Spencer
June 1, 2021

Davis the Owl Returns Home

Having recovered from life-threatening injuries, a beautiful winged creature is released to its natural habitat.

By Andrew Cassell
April 22, 2021

In the Blink of an Eye

Gone in less than a minute—the middle of June 2019 to the middle of June 2020, as viewed from the rooftop of the Mittelman Observatory.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
Video by Jonathan Kemp/Mittelman Observatory
June 10, 2020
Middlebury College
  • Alumni
  • Newsroom
  • Contact Us
  • icon-instagram

The views presented are not necessarily those of the editors or the official policies of the College.

© 2022 Middlebury College Publications.