Similar memory for me...
Brothers always favored her over Venus because she was the thicker one. As they grew into their adult bodies throughout their 20s Serena became one of the baddest celebrity women period and was regarded as such by brothers. Sge was beautiful, though most of us wouldn't call her "drop dead gorgeous". She was beautiful though and her body was maybe the best in all of entertainment...
There was always a small, small segment of us who said "she looked good for a dark-skinned chick", but in my remembrance that was a tiny minority...
To be honest I don't remember alot of comments about her natural features coming until later, like post-2010. She did get more sculpted and then you heard brothers who related her to men, and you got dudes calling her ugly. That number was greater than in years past but I still think the dudes who said that were well below what the majority of brothers said---->but those disrespectful comments about her looks from black men did exist...
Personally I never spent enough time in white spaces or online places to know what they thought of her, but it is hardly a surprise to hear she was probably beat up by them as much or more than black folk. Yall gotta remember this girl has been in the limelight since she was a preteen, most of the places she went and people she was around, particularly given she plays tennis, would be white. The amount of times she probably heard any disparaging remark about any of her naturally black features, from the mouths of a Caucasian, probably far surpass what any one of us would estimate. So I definitely disagree that black people would be most responsible for her lack of appreciation of her blackness...
I'm sure she didn't live in a bubble, she was probably aware there were black people who shytted on her, and that may have started as a kid and laid the blueprint for what we see today. Remember she from Compton, and when she was growing up in Compton it was majority black and we all know kids are crude. So it's believable that maybe she started hearing she was unattractive from black kids as an adolescent...
But I highly, highly doubt that this woman who is now 40, and has been a legal adult for 22 years, was more disrespected by black people in adulthood. I highly doubt that, the large majority of us praised her looks and supported her celebrity...
Regardless, wishing this sister peace, that one day she can grow comfortable with her natural self, and that she is able to build strong black confidence within that daughter of hers who is growing up in majority white spaces. Might be asking alot on that but I hope Serena finds peace within herself!