Serena Williams recalls the moment she learned her sister's killer would walk free

Serena Williams has spoken publicly for the first time about the pain of learning her sister’s killer would walk free last month.

Yetunde Price was the older half-sister of Serena and Venus Williams, and served as personal assistant to the tennis superstar siblings.

In September 2003, she was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. The mother of three, 31, had been in a car with her boyfriend, believed to be the intended victim.

Three years later, Robert Edward Maxfield was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years behind bars.

“I couldn’t shake it out of my mind,” the Grand Slam champion recalls.

“It was hard because all I think about is her kids, and what they meant to me. And how much I love them.”

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Price’s three children, Jeffrey, Justus and Jair, had been just 11, nine and five years old when she died.

The news of Maxfield’s release reached Williams as she was scrolling through Instagram 10 minutes before taking to the court during a tournament in San Jose on July 31.

Playing against British number one Johanna Konta, she lost 6-1, 6-0 - the most dramatic defeat of her career.