Serena Williams Once Tried to Deposit a $1 Million Check at an ATM Drive-Thru: 'I Never Played for Money'

Cashing a cheque tin still beryllium a pain, but drive-thru ATMs and banking apps person made nan process overmuch much seamless.

But if you're nan tennis fable Serena Williams—your paychecks mightiness beryllium a spot much than nan ATM tin handle.

Related: Serena Williams Launches a New Company That She's Been Working connected for 6 Years

The 23-time Grand Slam singles victor appeared connected an section of "Hot Ones" past week and talked astir really her finances took a backseat to her emotion for nan game. Evans asked Williams if a rumored communicative — that she erstwhile tried to rate a million-dollar cheque astatine an ATM but was denied astatine nan drive-thru — was true. Williams said it was.

"I ne'er played for money. I played because I loved nan sport, I wanted to beryllium nan best, I wanted to win," Williams said. "I sewage my cheque and it was $1 cardinal and I was for illustration 'Okay, I'm going to spell deposit it', I ne'er really spent a batch of money … I conscionable went done nan drive-thru and nan feline was like, 'Uh, I deliberation you request to travel wrong for this.'"

The tennis pro besides said that, early successful her career, she would often hide to prime up and rate checks.

″[He] would beryllium like, 'You didn't get your money?' And I'm like, 'Oh, I didn't get that 1 successful Zurich. I forgot that 1 successful Moscow,'" Williams told Evans. "I was playing to win, and if I didn't win, I wasn't thinking. I was conscionable truthful angry that I wanted to conscionable fig retired a measurement to get amended and triumph nan adjacent time."

The dedication to nan crippled intelligibly paid off.

In her 27-year-long career, Williams, now 42, won 73 career singles titles and 23 profession doubles titles and earned an estimated $94.8 cardinal successful prize money.

By 2022, it was estimated that Williams had earned hundreds of millions successful sponsorships passim her profession pinch companies including Nike and Kraft Foods.

Williams also recently launched an progressive beauty marque called Wyn Beauty, which was six years successful nan making.

Per Forbes, Williams' net worth is an estimated $340 million.