Serena Williams Went All Out To Get Olympia Ready For Her First Tennis Lesson

Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. is already on the way to following in her mother’s iconic footsteps. In fact, Serena Williams enrolled her daughter into tennis lessons, but the 39-year-old pro is not going to be doing the teaching. Instead, that responsibility has been bestowed to an unnamed tennis coach. No pressure, right?

"Guys, I signed Olympia up for tennis lessons," Williams said in a video on her Instagram Story. "Don't even start with me, because I'm not giving her tennis lessons; I signed her up for some."

Williams added that the instructor teaching her 3-year-old prodigy had no idea who her student would be. "But the lady has no idea that it's my daughter, so we'll see how long that lasts," Williams said.

But the greatest tennis player of all time and 23 Grand Slam title winner doesn’t seem like the intimidating and overbearing mom-type. As a matter of fact, once the lessons started, Williams left the court. "So, she's at her tennis lesson, but I'm going to leave so I'm not distracting," Williams shared in another Instagram Story, after dropping her daughter off. No word on the reaction of the assumedly surprised trainer.

"I know how to, like, leave and be," she continued. "I'm not, like, an overprotective mom — no matter what Alexis [Ohanian] says,” referencing to her husband, who retweeted a video and affectionately added it was actually him who signed Olympia up for the lessons. "Hey now, Papa signed her up," Ohanian tweeted. "TENNIS DAD ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED."

However, Williams reiterated she is not pushy but "she knows how she likes technique," so will be teaching her daughter a few techniques on the side.

Williams also shared a selfie of her "tennis mom outfit" — a pink and purple tennis tank top and turquoise skirt — and Olympia's practice Nike black and white set, which the superstar mama seems to have in her size as well.

To prepare for her first lesson, Williams tried to get Olympia ready by showing her some footage of her own match against Maria Sakkari at the U.S. Open last month. "See the open stance there and look at the speed," Williams is overheard saying to her daughter.

But since the future tennis star is only a toddler, her attention span on the match was a generous few minutes and she opted out to watch cartoons instead. "This is the film she wanted to watch," Williams said. "That baby not playing tennis or nothing."

This isn’t Olympia's first exposure to tennis, of course. Back in July, the two posted in matching adorable purple sets and the toddler is constantly seen watching her mother practice on cheering her on from the stands with her dad. Just recently, in fact, the two were spotted at a match between Williams and Sloane Stephens during the 2020 U.S. Open last month, which Williams won. The toddler’s fascination with the sport seems to be genuine and something Williams says she does not, in any way, push upon her.

“I don't force tennis on her,” Williams shared in an August interview with InStyle. “She has a little tiny Wilson racket and she always says, 'tennis, tennis!' I'm like, I just finished training, the last thing I want to do is play tennis, but I can't say no to her!"

And if tennis doesn’t work out for Olympia, she has a soccer empire to fall back on. Last year, the toddler became the co-owner, alongside her mom, of LA women’s soccer team, the City Angels.