Serena Williams shares two daughters, Olympia and Adira, with her husband Alexis Ohanian
Alexis Ohanian Sr., Serena Williams, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., and Adira Ohanian. PHOTO:
ALEXIS OHANIAN SR. INSTAGRAM
Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian are the proud parents of two daughters.
The couple welcomed their first daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., who goes by Olympia, on Sept. 1, 2017. They expanded their family five years later when Williams gave birth to their younger daughter, Adira River Ohanian, in August 2023.
After giving birth to Olympia, Williams opened up to InStyle in June 2018 about balancing motherhood and her career.
“The only rule I have at practice is to be done at 1 p.m., because as much as I love tennis, I need to be with her,” she said. “I want to put her above everything else I’m doing. Since she was born, I haven’t been apart from her for more than a day.”
The tennis icon added about a second baby, “If I weren’t working, I’d already be pregnant … I don’t know if I want to play if I have another baby…”
Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams, and Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. at the AFI Fest premiere of “King Richard” in 2021.
LISA O’CONNOR/AFP/GETTY
Williams stepped away from tennis in September 2022, nearly a year before welcoming her second child. During an episode of the PEOPLE Every Day Podcast a few months later, she shared that Olympia was happy about her mom having more free time.
“She wants to make sure that I’m aware that I should have time on my hands and I need to spend more time with her,” Williams said. “It’s funny … but it’s good because little kids really want to be with their parents. And I just feel fortunate that she wants to be with me. That’s kind of how I look at it, [because] she could feel a different way, and I’m glad she doesn’t.”
Though Williams has previously been open about her struggles with motherhood, she also recognizes the joy in such a significant life change. “I’ve been so focused on my career my whole life, but when I had a family and got married, I realized that there’s so much more to life. And that was great,” she told PEOPLE in January 2021.
From their births to spending quality time with their parents, here’s everything to know about Serena Williams’ kids.
Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., 6
Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.
ALEXIS OLYMPIA OHANIAN JR. INSTAGRAM
Williams and Ohanian’s older daughter, Olympia, was born on Sept. 1, 2017, at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ohanian shared the news on Instagram and wrote, “Welcome, Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr., we’re so happy to meet you … Our little girl is already mama’s perfect sidekick.”
The tennis icon previously announced her pregnancy by posting a photo of her baby bump on Snapchat when she was 20 weeks along. She later told Vanity Fair that she found out she was pregnant right before competing in the 2017 Australian Open, which she won.
“[I] did a double take and my heart dropped. Like literally dropped,” she told the outlet. Williams thought: “Oh my God, this can’t be — I’ve got to play a tournament. How am I going to play the Australian Open? I had planned on winning in Wimbledon this year.”
While the couple chose not to learn their baby’s sex, Ohanian said during a visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live! that they both suspected they were having a girl.
“[Serena] won the Australian Open while pregnant. And 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,” he said.
Williams has been very open about her complicated birthing experience, including her emergency cesarean section and postpartum surgeries.
“My whole life I’ve been physically pushing my body to the limits,” Williams told PEOPLE in April 2018. “And this is the one time where I couldn’t control anything. I couldn’t push my body. My body pushed to its maximum. That was so hard.”
KENA BETANCUR/AFP VIA GETTY
By the time Olympia was 4, Williams shared that her daughter was taking piano lessons and had a strong love for music over sports.
“She likes tennis, but I don’t know. Honestly, she likes playing piano,” the tennis star revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “When she was in my belly, I played a lot of piano music.”
She added, “And she’s teaching me! Like, I’m not even kidding. I have a baby Mozart, [but] of course every parent thinks they have like, a baby Beethoven or whatever.”
Some of Olympia’s other interests include ballet, soccer and VR gaming. Ohanian told PEOPLE that he and Williams love watching their daughter explore her different interests.
“I do think she’s a mix of both creative and athletic right now. Mini golf was her thing a year or so ago, and then we got her proper golfing lessons, and she’s loved it,” he said. “On the creative side, she loves to dance. I guess dance is a little bit of both. Maybe that’s where she’ll land — somewhere in the creative end and athletic … Like any parent, we just want her to have fun, and we’re fortunate enough to be able to expose her to anything she could be interested in.”
While Olympia has been following in her mom’s footsteps and playing tennis since she was a toddler, Williams revealed on CBS News’ Person to Person with Norah O’Donnell that her daughter “doesn’t actually like to play tennis too much.”
Serena Williams and Alexis Olympia during the Auckland Classic tennis tournament in 2020.
MICHAEL BRADLEY/AFP/GETTY
“That’s a little disappointing for me, but she’s actually really good at it,” she said in 2023. “So we are trying to figure out a way to get her to play a little bit.”
However, even if Olympia doesn’t choose a career in sports, she’s already a co-owner of two sports teams. At 2 ½, she became a co-owner of the women’s soccer team Angel City Football Club and later the Los Angeles Golf Club.
“Right now all Olympia knows is that Angel City FC is our team, and she loves cheering for them,” Ohanian told PEOPLE in March 2023. “I think as she gets older, maybe she’ll come to see the different layers to it.”
During an interview with PEOPLE in July 2020, Williams shared that Olympia is also already something of a fashionista. “She’ll set up before bed what we need to wear in the morning,” she said. “And she says, ‘Blue shirt, blue shirt, blue shirt.’ And then she goes, ‘Mama wear this or these shoes.’ She always tells me to [wear] heels.”
The mother-daughter duo are often twinning with each other in photos. Olympia even joined her mom at Paris Fashion Week in April 2022 and on the cover of Vogue in August 2022.
Though Williams and Ohanian don’t celebrate Olympia’s birthday because Williams identifies as a Jehovah’s Witness, they still treat her to special outings. In September 2023, Ohanian took her to Home Depot to do some painting on the weekend of her 6th birthday.
He shared photos from their outing on Instagram and wrote, “I gave Olympia the ‘best day ever’ this weekend, where she could pick whatever she wanted to do. It started with building a microscope. I’m so proud. I love this time with our (NEW) 6 year old.”
Adira River Ohanian
Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. and Adira River Ohanian.
ALEXIS OLYMPIA OHANIAN JR. INSTAGRAM
The couple’s second daughter, Adira, was born in August 2023. They first revealed the news in a TikTok video, with Ohanian later posting a family photo on Instagram.
“Welcome, Adira River Ohanian. I’m grateful to report our house is teaming with love: a happy & healthy newborn girl and happy & healthy mama,” he captioned the image. “Feeling grateful. @serenawilliams you’ve now given me another incomparable gift — you’re the GMOAT. Thanks to all the amazing medical staff who took care of my wife & our daughter 🙏 I’ll never forget the moment I introduced @olympiaohanian to her baby sister.”
Williams initially announced her pregnancy when she attended the Met Gala with Ohanian in May 2023. “Was so excited when Anna Wintour invited the 3 of us to the Met Gala,” she captioned a photo of her and her husband. The couple later revealed the sex of their new baby with a drone display.
Ohanian revealed to PEOPLE then that “no one’s more excited” about the pregnancy news than Olympia. “She’s been wanting this,” he said. “She’s been praying and asking about this for quite some time, so she’s very ready.”
The entrepreneur also shared that he felt more confident as a second-time parent. “We’re not first-time parents anymore,” he said. “I feel more confident about having a newborn, all of those things that I just had zero confidence about with Olympia because I’d never even been around babies at that point in my life.”
Alexis Ohanian Sr., Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., and Adira River Ohanian.
ALEXIS OHANIAN SR. INSTAGRAM
After Adira was born, Williams gave fans an inside look at her newborn’s nursery in a YouTube video. “A little history about this room, this actually used to be Olympia’s room. It had blue carpet and it was like a playroom for her,” she shared in the video.
She went on to show the details of the room, which included a red-and-white crib with a gold crown perched at the top and red and gold hot 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 before Adira was born.
“I walked into @poppedoll @byselinabyfernando in the Netherlands and saw a baby bed that took my breath away. I wanted to see if I could get something just like it, but in my own colors of course,” she wrote in the caption. “They only had 6 weeks to make it … And they delivered! I literally had Adira the next day! Thanks for making my nursery room dream come true ❤️.”
In September 2023, Ohanian shared a photo of him cuddling up to his two daughters while they watched TV. “#PaternityLeave,” the father of two captioned his post.
