LOS ANGELES, March 5 — The rise of the phenomenally successful international tennis stars, Venus and Serena Williams, is coming to the big screen in a movie telling the story of their tennis coach father, Richard Wiliams. US entertainment media reports that Will Smith is lined up to play the title role in the film, called King Richard.

Game, set and match. According to US entertainment media, Will Smith has landed his latest big-screen role. The American actor has reportedly been picked to play the father of tennis champions Serena and Venus Williams in the King Richard film, currently in development.

The film, written by Zach Baylin, will tell the story of Richard Williams, following him through hardship, scepticism, controversy — and facing up to his own troubled past — as he brings up his two daughters to become tennis aces, starting on the tennis courts of California when the girls were around four years old. The movie’s script was runner-up on the 2018 Black List.

With 23 Grand Slam tournament titles to her name, Serena’s impressive career took off with the 1999 US Open, which she defeated Martina Hingis to win. Her sister, Venus, won her first Grand Slam title in 2000 at Wimbledon. Since then, she has added six other titles to her collection. Together, the Williams sisters have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles.

As well as his starring role, Will Smith will also produce the movie via his Overbrook Entertainment company, along with Star Thrower Entertainment (The Post), Mary Solomon and Rick Rickertsen. It is not yet known when the picture will start filming.

In the meantime, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air star is set to reteam with Martin Lawrence in the third Bad Boys movie, titled Bad Boys for Life, which is currently filming. — AFP-Relaxnews