Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian are the proud dad and mom of two daughters.
The couple welcomed their first daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., who goes by Olympia, in September 2017. They expanded their household 5 years later when Williams gave beginning to their youthful daughter, Adira River Ohanian, in August 2023.
In an April 2024 interview with Byrdie, Williams, who stepped away from tennis in September 2022, was requested what brings her probably the most happiness in life, and she or he answered “my youngsters,” admitting, “I am unable to say {that a} Wimbledon trophy holds a candle to volunteering at my child’s college.”
“I additionally hope my daughters see what number of totally different passions I’ve — from tennis to magnificence — and be taught that they will lead dynamic careers and lives throughout their many pursuits,” she mentioned.
Although Williams has beforehand been open about her struggles with motherhood, she additionally acknowledges the enjoyment in such a big life change.
“I have been so targeted on my profession my complete life, however after I had a household and received married, I noticed that there is a lot extra to life. And that was nice,” she informed ipromiseyoumedia in January 2021.
From their births to spending high quality time with their dad and mom, right here’s the whole lot to find out about Serena Williams’ youngsters.
Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., 6
Williams and Ohanian’s older daughter, Olympia, was born on Sept. 1, 2017, at St. Mary’s Medical Heart in West Palm Seashore, Florida. Ohanian shared the information on Instagram and wrote, “Welcome, Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr., we’re so pleased to satisfy you … Our little woman is already mama’s good sidekick.”
The tennis icon beforehand introduced her being pregnant by posting a photograph of her child bump on Snapchat when she was 20 weeks alongside. She later informed Vainness Honest that she discovered she was pregnant proper earlier than competing within the 2017 Australian Open, which she gained.
“[I] did a double take and my coronary heart dropped. Like actually dropped,” she informed the outlet. Williams thought, “Oh my God, this could’t be — I’ve received to play a event. How am I going to play the Australian Open? I had deliberate on successful in Wimbledon this 12 months.”
Whereas the couple selected to not be taught their child’s intercourse, Ohanian mentioned throughout a go to to Jimmy Kimmel Reside! that they each suspected they had been having a woman.
“[Serena] gained the Australian Open whereas pregnant. And she or he remarked that she feels prefer it must be a woman as a result of the whole lot that that child went by and dealt with like a champ, solely a lady could possibly be robust sufficient to tackle,” he mentioned.
Williams has been open about her sophisticated birthing expertise, together with her emergency cesarean part and postpartum surgical procedures.
“My complete life I have been bodily pushing my physique to the bounds,” Williams informed ipromiseyoumedia in April 2018. “And that is the one time the place I could not management something. I could not push my physique. My physique pushed to its most. That was so exhausting.”
By the point Olympia was 4, Williams shared that her daughter was taking piano classes and had a robust love for music over sports activities.
“She likes tennis, however I do not know. Truthfully, she likes enjoying piano,” the tennis star revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Reside!. “When she was in my stomach, I performed quite a lot of piano music.”
She added, “And she or he’s instructing me! Like, I am not even kidding. I’ve a child Mozart, [but] in fact each father or mother thinks they’ve like, a child Beethoven or no matter.”
A few of Olympia’s different pursuits embrace ballet, soccer, VR gaming and golf classes with dad. Ohanian informed ipromiseyoumedia that he and Williams love watching their daughter discover her totally different pursuits.
“I do suppose she’s a mixture of each artistic and athletic proper now. Mini golf was her factor a 12 months or so in the past, after which we received her correct {golfing} classes, and she or he’s cherished it,” he mentioned. “On the artistic facet, she loves to bop. Perhaps that is the place she’ll land — someplace within the artistic finish and athletic … Like several father or mother, we simply need her to have enjoyable, and we’re lucky sufficient to have the ability to expose her to something she could possibly be concerned with.”
Throughout an interview with ipromiseyoumedia in July 2020, Williams shared that Olympia can also be already one thing of a fashionista. “She’ll arrange earlier than mattress what we have to put on within the morning,” she mentioned. “And she or he says, ‘Blue shirt, blue shirt, blue shirt.’ After which she goes, ‘Mama put on this or these sneakers.’ She at all times tells me to [wear] heels.”
The mother-daughter duo are sometimes twinning with one another in images. Olympia even joined her mother at Paris Vogue Week in April 2022 and on the quilt of Vogue in August 2022.
Whereas Olympia has been following in her mother’s footsteps and enjoying tennis since she was a toddler, Williams revealed on CBS Information’ Individual to Individual with Norah O’Donnell that her daughter “would not truly wish to play tennis an excessive amount of.”
“That is a bit disappointing for me, however she’s truly actually good at it,” she mentioned in 2023. “So we are attempting to determine a approach to get her to play a bit bit.”
Nonetheless, even when Olympia doesn’t select a profession in sports activities, she’s already a co-owner of two sports activities groups. At 2 ½, she grew to become a co-owner of the ladies’s soccer workforce Angel Metropolis Soccer Membership and later the Los Angeles Golf Membership.
“Proper now all Olympia is aware of is that Angel Metropolis FC is our workforce, and she or he loves cheering for them,” Ohanian informed ipromiseyoumedia in March 2023. “I feel as she will get older, perhaps she’ll come to see the totally different layers to it.”
Although Williams and Ohanian don’t have fun Olympia’s birthday as a result of Williams identifies as a Jehovah’s Witness, they nonetheless deal with her to particular outings. In September 2023, Ohanian took her to Dwelling Depot to do some portray on the weekend of her sixth birthday.
He shared images from their outing on Instagram and wrote, “I gave Olympia the ‘greatest day ever’ this weekend, the place she might decide no matter she wished to do. It began with constructing a microscope. I am so proud. I really like this time with our (NEW) 6 12 months outdated.”
As for being an enormous sister, Olympia loves caring for Adira. Williams usually shares images of their candy sister time on Instagram.
Adira River Ohanian, 1
The couple’s second daughter, Adira River Ohanian, was born on Aug. 15, 2023.
“I am grateful to report our home is teaming with love: a cheerful & wholesome new child woman and pleased & wholesome mama,” Ohanian wrote on Instagram simply days after her beginning. “Feeling grateful. @serenawilliams you have now given me one other incomparable present — you are the GMOAT. I will always remember the second I launched @olympiaohanian to her child sister.”
On Adira’s first birthday, Williams shared the particular that means behind her daughter’s identify.
“Adira is a woman’s identify of Hebrew origin and means ‘mighty,’ ‘robust,’ and ‘majestic.’ The elegant identify is in style in lots of cultures world wide,” she defined on Instagram. “Adira is the female type of the basic identify Adir. It’s a Biblical identify, that means ‘Robust One.’ ”
The tennis star initially introduced her being pregnant when she attended the Met Gala with Ohanian in Could 2023. “Was so excited when Anna Wintour invited the three of us to the Met Gala,” she captioned a photograph of her and her husband. The couple later revealed the intercourse of their new child with a drone show.
Ohanian revealed to ipromiseyoumedia then that “nobody’s extra excited” concerning the being pregnant information than Olympia. “She’s been wanting this,” he mentioned. “She’s been praying and asking about this for fairly a while, so she’s very prepared.”
The entrepreneur additionally shared that he felt extra assured as a second-time father or mother. “We’re not first-time dad and mom anymore,” he mentioned. “I really feel extra assured about having a new child, all of these issues that I simply had zero confidence about with Olympia as a result of I’d by no means even been round infants at that time in my life.”
After Adira was born, Williams gave followers an inside have a look at her new child’s nursery in a YouTube video. “A bit of historical past about this room, this truly was Olympia’s room. It had blue carpet and it was like a playroom for her,” she shared within the video.
She went on to indicate the small print of the room, which included a red-and-white crib with a gold crown perched on the prime and crimson and gold sizzling air balloons that hung from the ceiling.
In a teaser for the video Williams posted on Instagram, she revealed that the crib had arrived the day earlier than Adira was born.
“I walked into @poppedoll @byselinabyfernando within the Netherlands and noticed a child mattress that took my breath away. I wished to see if I might get one thing similar to it, however in my very own colours in fact,” she wrote within the caption. “They solely had 6 weeks to make it … They usually delivered! I actually had Adira the following day! Thanks for making my nursery room dream come true ❤️.”