But Serena’s biggest win was when she became a mom in 2017, During a TED Talk with GayleKing, she revealed that she learned about her pregnancy just two days before the 2017 Australian Open began. “I was nervous," Williams said. “I wasn’t quite sure what to think, but I knew that at that moment, it was really important for me to just focus.” She added, “It wasn’t very easy. You hear all these stories about people when they’re pregnant—they get sick, they get really tired, really stressed out… I had to really take all that energy and put it in a paper bag, so to say, and throw it away.” Whatever she did, it worked; Williams not only won that Australian Open, but she did so by beating sister Venus in the final! As caught-off-guard as Williams was by her pregnancy, she later threw the world—and herself—for a loop when she accidentally uploaded her baby bump to Snapchat in April 2017, announcing her pregnancy without meaning to! Nowadays, the tennis superstar is expanding her empire yet again with her recent announcement that she’s writing a children’s book, The Adventures of Qai Qai, about her daughter’s beloved doll, which Williams created herself. Here’s what we know about Serena Williams and the daughter she calls her best friend, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. View this post on Instagram
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Who is Serena Williams’ daughter?
Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. is called “Olympia” for short by her mom, while her dad (who’s also got the first name Alexis) prefers “Junior.” In 2017, Williams revealed on Twitter that her daughter’s name also serves as an homage to the Australian Open, which Serena famously won while newly pregnant with her child. Her husband spoke about how they didn’t know the baby’s gender ahead of time, but Serena always had a feeling it was a girl. “[Serena] won the Australian Open while pregnant. She remarked that she feels like it has to be a girl because everything that that baby went through and handled like a champ, only a woman could be strong enough to take on,” Ohanian said on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Olympia was born by emergency C-section after her heart rate dropped dangerously low during contractions, according to Vogue. Alexis cut the cord, and the crying newborn was silent the moment she was laid on Serena’s chest. “That was an amazing feeling,” Serena remembers. “And then everything went bad.” The next day, while recovering in the hospital, Serena suddenly felt short of breath and, after testing, found that she had multiple blood clots in her lungs. The complications led to another procedure (inserting a filter into a major vein to prevent more clots) and she spent her first six weeks of motherhood unable to get out of bed. Williams and her husband share their daughter’s cutest moments on social media all of the time—including at Olympia’s own Instagram handle! Mom and daughter can often be seen wearing twinning outfits on the tennis court and even on the red carpet. In fact, Olympia made her first red carpet appearance in November at the premiere of King Richard wearing the same black outfit as her mom.
How old is Serena Williams’ daughter?
Olympia was born on September 1, 2017, making her 4 years old as of late 2021 (and at the time of the King Richard premiere). Her mom, of course, has marked her b-day on social media many times over. On September 1, 2019, for example, Williams celebrated her daughter’s second birthday with a throwback pic from her birth and the words, “The last two years have been my greatest accomplishment.”
Who is Serena Williams married to?
Williams met now-38 year-old Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in Rome on May 12, 2015, just before Williams was to play her first match at that year’s Italian Open. They told VanityFair that their meet-cute took place because Ohanian was seated at a table Williams and her crew were planning on using for breakfast. They attempted to get him to move by saying there was a rat near the table—but then Williams ended up inviting Ohanian to join her. In December 2016, Ohanian proposed to Williams at the Cavalieri hotel. What followed was a whirlwind year for the couple: Williams announced her pregnancy on Snapchat in April 2017, welcomed her first child on September 1, 2017, then tied the knot with Ohanian at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans on November 16, 2017.
Is Serena Williams retired?
Williams has admitted that the idea of moving to San Francisco (where her husband’s work is based) and being a full-time mom there is an attractive idea, but she hasn’t retired from the tennis court just yet. “I absolutely want more Grand Slams,” she’s said. For now, Williams is juggling motherhood, marriage and her tennis career. In a candid, makeup-free Instagram post in February 2020, she said, “I am not sure who took this picture but working and being a mom is not easy. I am often exhausted, stressed, and then I go play a professional tennis match. We keep going. I am so proud and inspired by the women who do it day in and day out. I’m proud to be this baby’s mama.” In fact, her parenting mantra is simple, “you’re going to go through a lot of things in life and there’s no way to get through it other than to go through it,” she said in an interview with TODAY. “You can’t go around it, can’t go over it, can’t go under it– just go through it, because it’s never going to be easy, but it really builds a different character.. after you go through different hardships and hard times.” She added, “I don’t know how moms do it. I work a lot, and I can’t imagine working a full day like most working women and then go back to their babies. I’m fortunate enough that I have days off, and I get to make my schedule and then can spend the rest of the day with her. And that’s still hard.” Case in point: In 2018, Williams tweeted about missing her daughter take her first stepsbecause she was practicing for Wimbledon at the All England Club.
Is Serena Williams’ daughter playing tennis?
One might think the daughter of a tennis champ would gravitate to the sport, but it seems like 4-year-old Olympia has passions of her own. “She likes tennis, but I don’t know. Honestly, she likes playing piano,” Williams said in November 2021 on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, noting that when she was pregnant, she played a lot of piano music. In fact, Olympia has been taking piano lessons and encouraging her mother to tickle the ivories as well. “I teach her tennis… She teaches me piano,” Williams captioned an adorable 2021 video of her daughter doing just that. Next, read all about the top celebrity baby names!
