"Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come"
About this Quote
The line works because it’s built on tension. She acknowledges the seduction of the “one moment in time” narrative - the highlight reel, the single championship point, the iconic image - then undercuts it with the unglamorous math of labor: “many, many hours, countless hours.” The repetition is doing heavy lifting; it sounds like someone who’s had to say this before, someone tired of having her competence framed as surprise. It’s also a quiet thesis about how elite performance is manufactured: you train for a door that might never open, and you still show up like it will.
There’s vulnerability in “not knowing when it would come.” She’s admitting uncertainty without conceding randomness. The subtext is faith in preparation as an act of control in a career defined by variables you can’t command - injury, officiating, public scrutiny, the pressure to be “effortless.” Williams makes the moment feel earned twice: once on the court, and again in the story we tell about it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work Ethic |
|---|---|
| Source | Verified source: The Independent: Tennis: Serena slams the door on Venus (Serena Williams, 2003)
Evidence: Working hard is what Serena specialises in: "People say 'Oh, you're so lucky to have this.' But luck has nothing to do with it because I spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come.". This is a primary contemporaneous news report quoting Serena Williams after the Australian Open women’s final (published Saturday 25 January 2003). I did not find an earlier primary publication in the initial search results; many later quote-aggregation sites and secondary articles appear to be re-quoting this wording (sometimes with minor punctuation changes). Other candidates (1) I'm the Boss of Me (Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, 2016) compilation98.1% ... Luck, has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for... |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Williams, Serena. (2026, February 13). Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/luck-has-nothing-to-do-with-it-because-i-have-130450/
Chicago Style
Williams, Serena. "Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come." FixQuotes. February 13, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/luck-has-nothing-to-do-with-it-because-i-have-130450/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come." FixQuotes, 13 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/luck-has-nothing-to-do-with-it-because-i-have-130450/. Accessed 3 Mar. 2026.









