Sat on fresh air on a bench in the backyard of their home in South Florida and pondered the meaning of life. Somewhere nearby, Serena's mother was putting to bed the main treasure of the young family - a daughter named Alexis-Olympia, who was born on September 1, 2017. Everything seemed so perfect and wonderful. But just four months ago, the younger Williams sister's life was a nightmare with no end in sight. Vogue magazine wrote about this.
A piece of glass in Munich
Life did not give the youngest of the Williams sisters any concessions, as some might think. The murder of her sister Yetunda Price in 2003 caused Serena severe psychological trauma, from which she could not recover for many years. Then there was an unpleasant story in one of the Munich restaurants, when Williams cut her leg on broken glass. After treatment, the tennis player’s condition worsened and she developed a pulmonary embolism, which required urgent surgical intervention. This led to the fact that the American was forced to miss about a year in total - between Wimbledon 2010 and 2011. The athlete triumphantly returned to the court and then it seemed that the phrase “pulmonary embolism” was a thing of the past.
“Suddenly I realized, I just can’t breathe.”
Unfortunately, the disease reappeared. And it was difficult to find a more inopportune moment for this. For the most part, Serena's pregnancy was surprisingly easy. But during childbirth, doctors had to do Serena a caesarean section due to the fact that the child's pulse began to decrease. The doctors did everything to ensure that the baby was born healthy.
“It was an amazing feeling. But then everything went wrong,” recalls Serena.
The next day, Williams was waking up after giving birth when she suddenly felt that it was difficult for her to breathe. The athlete immediately remembered the history of her illnesses and realized that she had another embolism. She immediately ran out of the room so that her mother would not be worried and turned to the first nurse she came across.
“Give me a pill urgently, I’m not breathing. And also send me for a CT scan.”
At first, the nurse did not believe Williams, believing that painkillers were still acting on the tennis player. Serena, however, insisted that everything be done exactly as she said. Doctors discovered several blood clots in her lungs. She had difficulty breathing and began to cough violently, causing her stitches to come apart. caesarean section. Blood thinners led to severe bleeding. The situation became critical.
"Listen to Dr. Williams!"
Doctors decided to perform an emergency operation and put an IV in the athlete’s vein to prevent blood clots from getting into the lungs. Gradually, Serena's condition stabilized. Williams spent the next six weeks in the hospital, unable to really get out of bed. As time passed, the athlete joked that in that critical situation she showed herself to be a real doctor and essentially saved herself. “I immediately told the nurse and doctors that I needed a tomography and special medications, although the ultrasound did not reveal anything. I tell them: listen to Dr. Williams!” All these long weeks while Serena was in the hospital, Serena’s husband took care of the child, to whom the tennis player is very grateful for his help and support. Alexis Ohanian himself admitted that he spent best time in my life, caring for Olympia and never felt anything like it.
“Sometimes I got angry when the child cried”
The first few months of motherhood also became a real test for Serena. She seems to have fully learned what postpartum depression is. Help came in handy here from her mother, who stopped at their home in Florida to support her daughter. She encouraged the new mother to take things calmly and gave a lot of advice from the Bible. Serena noted that she needed these tips.
“Sometimes I heard my child crying and realized that I couldn’t do this anymore. I had the same negative feelings on the tennis court. I guess this is who I really am. Nobody talks about the difficulties, about the pressure that you constantly feel. I've been broken so many times you can't even imagine. Sometimes I would get angry when the child cried, then I would feel sad because I was angry at the child, and then I would feel guilty. Why should I be sad when I have such a beautiful child? It was like crazy."
The tennis world could not stay away from the news of Serena's pregnancy. The young dads of the men's tour, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic, showed themselves especially brightly. The Swiss gave Olympia a pair of small blue cowboy boots, and Novak constantly sent funny articles about how to be a good parent with his special sense of humor. Williams jokes in response that his and Djokovic’s daughters should definitely play together because they were born on the same day. Serena is also jokingly angry with Roger Federer, who already has four children (two sets of twins), but the Swiss practically never missed tournaments for this reason.
“This is not fair at all (laughs). He had four children and hardly missed a competition. I'm afraid to imagine where I would be in the ranking if I gave birth to four. Perhaps at the very, very bottom. But Roger will not wait for any concessions. I will do everything to finish my career later than him.” The women's side of the tour also provided incredible support for the new mother. Angelique Kerber, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki constantly contacted Williams to remind her how much they missed her at tournaments. Serena insists that despite all the rumors, there are people in women's tennis whom she respects and can call friends.
“I didn’t have a normal life. Let it be at least for my daughter.”
Serena tries to spend every second of her life with Olympia. It is clear that many of these seconds will soon occur during tennis court. However, Williams does not strive at all costs to instill in her daughter a love of tennis. She watched in horror as little Olympia watched Juan Martin del Potro play on television with admiration. “I would really not like to be compared to me. It's too hard. I had to give up a lot. I didn't have a normal life. Let it be at least for my daughter.” “She will definitely have a special life,” adds Serena’s husband Alexis Ohanian. “But it’s unlikely to be like a fairy tale when you’re being watched under a microscope.” How can your child live a normal life when you yourself live... abnormal?”
Despite all this commotion, Serena did not forget to follow the events in women's tennis. In her absence, it was not clear for a long time who would finish the year in first place in the rankings. Williams believes that anyone could have taken the place of her friend Simona Halep. No one really showed dominating tennis during the time that Serena was engaged in the arrangement of family life. By the way, the American really admires the game of the young Russian Daria Kasatkina and sees great potential in her. For second place in the ranking, of course. “It was interesting to watch. No one has made a real claim to number one in the rankings since I left. It'll be fun to see if I can get back to my place. I believe that the crown should belong to me. I don't play to be second or third. If I see that someone can stay in first place for a long time, then there is nothing to worry about. Let him know that I will come for him."
“At my age you can see the finish line.”
Serena is 36 years old, and there is no escape from talking about the future. No matter how the athlete declares her claims to a record 25 victories in tournaments, “ Grand Slam"and other achievements, time will take its toll. And then there’s also family life started in full swing. It must be said that Williams and Ohanyan celebrated their wedding on a grand scale. The ceremony was attended by celebrities such as Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Jay Z, Ciara, Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian and others. Serena always noted that she did not want an ordinary wedding, but wanted something large-scale and special. Indirectly, the wedding and the birth of a child reminded the tennis player that the end of her career was not far off. But she also looks at this in a way that is unconventional for many.
“For as long as I can remember, I have always played tennis. At my age you can see the finish line. But when that happens, you don’t slow down, you speed up.”
Serena Williams, who is missing the Australian Open, is expected to return to the court in March. And for some reason it seems that she will fight again.
0 13 September 2017, 18:15 
Serena Williams
On September 1, 35-year-old tennis player Serena Williams and her 34-year-old fiancé Alexis Ohanian welcomed a daughter. Almost two weeks later, the lovers, who are preparing for the wedding, decided to show their baby to the public and make her name public.
Meet Alexis Olympia Ohanian Junior,
— the tennis player wrote on her Instagram page.
The happy parents also published a two-minute video dedicated to the birth of Olympia. The story consists of several episodes: from the ultrasound, during which it became known that Williams was pregnant, to the last days of pregnancy. At the end of the video it is said that the baby has already won the Grand Slam tournament. Here the couple refers to Serena herself, who at that moment was already pregnant.
Two weeks after we found out I was pregnant, I participated in Open Championship Australia. I then told Alexis that we would definitely have a girl: I played in 37-degree heat, and the child did not cause any problems. Do or die, only women can do this
- said the athlete.
Let us remind you that the birth took place at the St. Mary's Medical Center in Palm Beach (Florida), where for quadruple Olympic champion The whole floor was booked. The girl was born weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces.
Instagram photo
The morning begins with great news shared with the public by the famous tennis player Serena Williams. The world number two and her fiancé, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, will become parents for the first time.
An impressive period
35-year-old Serena Williams, understanding what to combine professional sports and she won’t be able to get pregnant, she admitted that she was preparing to become a mother. She spoke about this on Snapchat, posting a selfie in yellow one-piece swimsuit. The photo shows her noticeably rounded belly.
The laconic caption to the photo finally put everything in its place and answered the question about the gestational age of the eldest of the Williams sisters:
After some simple calculations, we can say that Serena is now in her fifth month of pregnancy and should approximately give birth in early September. 2017 will obviously be a huge year for star babes!
Future parents
Williams has been dating her lover and baby's father, 33-year-old Alexis Ohanian, for about two years; it is difficult to find out more precisely, since the couple is reluctant to share the details of their love story. At the end of 2016, the businessman invited his girlfriend to get married, and the other day we admired a photo of Alexis holding Serena in her arms. Early parenthood pleases both of them and forces them to hurry up with the wedding or, conversely, postpone it.
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We add that Williams' representative officially confirmed her pregnancy. He stated that Serena is not leaving big sport and takes a break. The tennis player plans to return to the courts in 2018. There is no doubt that the strong-willed and purposeful Serena will grow her child into a new first racket of the world.
In the life of the famous tennis player, 35 years old Serena Williams A long-awaited event occurred - her first child was born. Coach Williams tweeted this Patrick Mouratoglou. It turns out that my last tournament for now, Australian Open, the American played and eventually won it, while she was pregnant. Only in April the athlete officially announced that she was expecting a child and accordingly decided to take a break from her career.
Serena Williams' daughter was born in a Florida clinic and weighs just over three kilograms.
The child's father was a 34-year-old entrepreneur of Armenian origin. Alexis Ohanian(his great-grandparents fled from genocide-ridden Armenia to New York in 1910 and settled there), who founded one of the most popular social news resources in the world, Reddit (the number of monthly visits to the site’s page exceeds 8 billion). Williams and Ohanian have been dating since 2015, but have not advertised their relationship. In December 2016, they got engaged, and the tennis player published a poem on Reddit about her engagement to her lover. It is still unknown when the wedding will take place.
After the Australian championship, the athlete did not take part in competitions, but managed to star in many glossy photo shoots, including naked on the cover of Vaniry Fair magazine, while already pregnant.
Perhaps now Serena Williams can finally be called happy woman, who not only won 23 Grand Slam singles tournaments, but finally, by the age of 35, legalized her relationship with her beloved man and gave birth to a child.
At the same time, the tennis player was never deprived of male attention. From 2008 to 2010, she dated American rapper Common, who was 10 years older than her. The couple thought about family and children, but it didn’t work out.
Two years ago, Williams was in a relationship with another, more famous rap artist, Drake. There was even information that they were planning to have children, but the Canadian and Serena fell into discord, the reasons for which the public never knew.
However, it is more unclear to the media whether the American woman had an affair with the Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov. Rumors about their relationship circulated in 2012, but were never confirmed and were based on several joint photographs of tennis stars (one of the photos was on Serena’s Instagram, but was subsequently deleted). Some publications claimed that Dimitrov left Serena for Maria Sharapova, because of which the American allegedly began to hate her principled rival even more. One of the indirect evidence of this is Williams’ interview with Rolling Stone magazine, in which she stated that Grigor has a “black heart.”
Perhaps the most unusual love relationship Williams was rumored to be with her current coach Patrick Mouratoglou. The affair with him did not last long, since the Frenchman was married. After this, Patrick divorced his wife, and Serena was accused of this by Sharapova, who stated at one of the press conferences: “If Serena wants to talk about something personal, perhaps she should think about a relationship with her boyfriend, who is married and has children.” and seeks a divorce."
By the way, Mouratoglou was one of the first to congratulate Williams and Ohanian, writing a message on Twitter. And just a couple of hours after the news of the birth of the child, representatives of the US Open also posted a long video on Twitter with congratulations from representatives of world tennis. Her compatriots Alison Riske, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Lauren Davis and Christina McHale, as well as 2017 Roland Garros champion Elena Ostapenko and Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, addressed the athlete with warm words.
At the same time, Serena’s older sister Venus, after the game with Maria Sakkari, refused to answer the question about joyful event in the family: “I will be happy to answer all your questions, but only if they are about tennis.”
One of the most striking statements about the birth of Williams' daughter was the comment Garbiñe Muguruza after the match with Magdalena Rybarikova: “Serena gave birth to a girl? I hope she doesn't play tennis."
As for Serena herself returning to tennis, she is quite serious. In August, the American announced her desire to take part in the Australian Open 2018. In an interview with Vogue magazine, she said: “It will be hard because it will only be about three months. But I'm not going to back down. I just understand what’s ahead of me.”
According to the former world number one Kim Clijsters, It will not be easy for Serena to return to the top of women's tennis: “After her first birth, she will need to find her way. I needed help. My husband could accompany me to tournaments. If it wasn't for my family, I wouldn't be able to play. So a lot depends on how she sees herself as a mother and athlete. I am sure that she will face many trials.”
In the 4 months remaining before the end of the year, it will be really difficult for Serena to get into optimal shape for the Australian Open, since she will not only have to train hard, but also not forget about the newborn girl, who will especially need maternal care in the first six months of her life. Although, perhaps Serena will solve this problem in her own way.
Will Williams manage to equal Margaret Court's number of Grand Slam titles and win her 24th trophy? Serena will have extremely difficult opponents, who during her absence from tennis have gotten used to it well and are now confident in their abilities. First of all, we are talking about Muguruza, who crushes her rivals at all tournaments this year in which she takes part. Also, don’t forget about Halep, Pliskova, Svitolina and, of course, Maria Sharapova, who actually returned to tennis at the US Open.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic a daughter was also born, whom he and his wife Elena named Tara. The Serbian tennis player became a father for the second time (on October 21, 2014, he and his wife had a son, Stefan). And it shouldn’t be ruled out that in a couple of decades the daughters of Novak and Serena will cross rackets in a spectacular tennis confrontation.
The best tennis player in the world became a mother at the age of 35. Serena Williams gave birth to a daughter in the midst of the US Open. Serena did not hide from journalists during pregnancy. On the contrary, she led a very public lifestyle. We congratulate the young mother and tell you all the details about the main tennis event of the year that happened off the court.
Harmony in relationships
Before the tournament, the tennis community discussed the personal life of another star, Victoria Azarenka. The Belarusian gave birth to a child out of wedlock and, instead of the US Open, is wandering around the courts, sharing the rights to her son with her former boyfriend. At first glance, Serena has order and harmony in her personal life.
The child's father is an American businessman, founder of Reddit with Armenian roots, Alexis Ohanian. History is silent about how the lovers met, but Serena really liked the social site Reddit, where users can exchange information. Williams has said more than once that this is her favorite app. It was there that the lovers announced their engagement.
By the way, Alexis chose a very unusual ring.
