NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 15: SI 2015 Sportsperson of the Year Serena Williams attends Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Ceremony 2015 at Pier 60 on December 15, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated)
In a new interview, tennis champion Serena Williams opens up about her relationship with money from her childhood to her present-day life, and one particular anecdote stands out for managing to be simultaneously highly relatable and, you know, not at all.
When the 35-year-old Grand Slam winner received her first million-dollar check, instead of blowing it or making travel plans, she put it in the bank immediately: “I remember I went through the drive-thru to deposit my check,” she recalled to “Kneading Dough,” a personal-finance video series, “and then they were like, ‘I think you need to come in for this,’ and so I ended up going inside … ‘Just put it in my account!'”
As an introvert, I sympathize: if I were to ever deposit a million dollar check *turns to gaze out the window wistfully* I’d likely go the route of the least in-person interaction as well.
Williams goes on to talk about how money has never motivated her to play tennis; it has always been about the game.
“I’ve actually never played for money,” she explains, “Just thought you would go out there and hold a trophy. Not once did I think about a check…I just played for the love of the sport.”
That said, as an athlete whose career prize money amounts to more than $84 million, as Business Insider reports, she has likely mastered the massive check-depositing process by now.
Listen to the full interview — and envision the cavalier manner in which you would handle your millions of dollars — here.
