Serena Williams Has Built The Family That She Dreamed Of

Serena Williams has spent most of her life being defined by tennis. As one of the greatest players of all time, it certainly made sense that her time and energy were spent devoted to perfecting her skills on the court. These days, however, Williams’s focus has shifted. She has retired from tennis in an effort to enjoy her home life to the fullest because her time with her husband and two daughters clearly brings her a special kind of joy.

She met her future husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, in Rome in 2015.

The tennis champion was enjoying a holiday in Rome when she met her future husband, which is just about as romantic as it gets. Williams happened to be staying at the Cavalieri Hotel with some friends and, as luck would have it, so was Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. He had no qualms about introducing himself to Williams as she and her friends were eating breakfast one morning. She told Vanity Fair in 2017 that he sat down at the next table, and they tried to get him to leave by telling him there was a rat under his table. When he wouldn’t leave, she eventually invited him to join them. Cut to a weekend in Paris together, and by the end of 2016, Ohanian was proposing to Williams back in Rome.

Daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. was born in 2017.

Mere weeks after their engagement, the couple discovered that they were expecting their first child together. Their daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., whom they call Olympia, was born in September 2017. Williams has described the birth as incredibly difficult, an actual “life or death” experience, as she put it in a 2022 essay for Elle. She underwent several surgeries, including the C-section that brought Olympia into the world, and had a blood clot in her lungs that might have gone undetected if she had not advocated for her own health. Fortunately she recovered.

She & Ohanian were married in New Orleans in November 2017.

Williams and Ohanian tied the knot in New Orleans in November, 2017; 2-month-old Olympia and a panoply of Hollywood stars were in attendance. When you fall in love in Rome, you really need to go big for the wedding.

Olympia has become a little tennis player herself.

Much like her mom, Olympia has become an accomplished little person in her own right. She understands French, and she has been working on her backhand. She also has 650,000 followers on her own Instagram account (managed by her parents, of course), where she keeps her fans updated on her exciting life. Including the one thing she wanted most of all: her baby sister.

Adira River Ohanian was born in 2023.

After Williams announced that she was retiring from tennis to work on expanding her family, she and Ohanian revealed that they were expecting a little sister for Olympia. The five year old was incredibly excited to hear the news. Baby girl Adira River Ohanian arrived last August, and Williams appears to have hit her stride as a mom of two. From wearing Adira during business meetings to donating some of her excess “super soldier” breast milk during a visit to New York City, Williams appears to be living the life she hoped for. And we’re so happy to see it.