Changing Courts

It's back to class for Venus and Serena Williams, who have designs on new careers after tennis

I'm so nervous from doing things wrong," says Serena Williams, opening her scissors in the air, sighing and then closing them. "I have no confidence. I never feel like this." Her sister Venus, who sits next to her in their Fundamentals of Pattern Making class, is able to offer no support, panicked herself about a tiny tear she has made, despite, or perhaps because of, her extreme caution in removing staples from her brown-paper skirt pattern. "I want to quit right now," Venus says, stamping her foot. Just then instructor Mariella Adrian, standing at the front of the small class, yells,...

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