All About Serena Williams’s Two Kids, Olympia and Adira (and What They Think of Tennis)

Having kids showed the 23-time Grand Slam title winner “there’s so much more to life.”

Serena Williams with her daughter Alexis Olympia after winning the women’s singles final match during the Auckland Classic tennis tournament in January 2020.Credit: MICHAEL BRADLEY/Getty Images

Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian welcomed her first child, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., in September 2017.
Williams and Ohanian expanded their family in August 2023, welcoming another daughter named Adira River.
Both girls have already spent time on the tennis court.

Besides being an all-star athlete, Serena Williams is an all-star mom to her two children: Olympia and Adira.

The tennis great and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, welcomed their first daughter in September 2017. In August 2023, their younger daughter Adira arrived, making Olympia a proud big sister. The couple first met in 2015 and married in November 2017, per People.

Olympia had regularly asked her mom for a sibling, Williams shared in her poignant goodbye letter to the sport of tennis, published in Vogue’s 2022 September issue. “Sometimes before bed, [Olympia] prays to Jehovah to bring her a baby sister. (She doesn’t want anything to do with a boy!) I’m the youngest of five sisters myself, and my sisters are my heroes, so this has felt like a moment I need to listen very carefully to,” the athlete wrote.

Williams—the only player to complete a Golden Slam in both singles and doubles tennis—may be best known for her talent on the court. But growing her family brought welcome 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,” Williams told People in January 2021. “I can’t say that a Wimbledon trophy holds a candle to volunteering at my kid’s school,” she told Byrdie in 2024.

Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian at the 2024 ESPY Awards.Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Olympia and Adira, who will turn 8 and 2 years old in 2025, are regular guests on their mom’s social media profiles. Williams has shown her young daughters giving her a makeover, learning her iconic “Come On” cheer, and watching her rehearse for her Super Bowl performance.

From legendary athlete to devoted mom, Williams does it all. Here’s everything to know about Serena Williams’s two kids, Olympia and Adira.

Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.

Olympia Ohanian and mom Serena Williams in May 2025.Tim Mosenfelder/FilmMagic

Williams and Ohanian welcomed their first child, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., on September 1, 2017. She was born at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. While she’s her father’s namesake, her parents usually refer to her as Olympia.

The tennis star learned she was pregnant shortly before competing in—and winning—the 2017 Australian Open. “[I] did a double take and my heart dropped. Like literally it dropped,” she told Vanity Fair of the moment she found out she’d be a mom. She didn’t believe the pregnancy test results at first, so she took five more tests, the magazine reported. When they were all positive, she was convinced.

Williams told People about her childbirth experience, which was complicated by an emergency cesarean section and blood clots that required subsequent surgeries. Still, the new mom fondly recalled meeting Olympia after the “harrowing” ordeal. “I remember the first day [Olympia] came and she slept with me, it was just the most amazing feeling ever.”

Serena Williams and her family at the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2024.Karwai Tang/WireImage

Young Olympia has many hobbies, including tennis—but don’t expect her to follow in her famous mom and Aunt Venus’s footsteps. While she’s taken tennis lessons almost since she could walk, the 7-year-old “doesn’t actually like to play tennis too much,” Williams told Norah O’Donnell in a CBS News appearance. “So, that’s a little disappointing for me, but she’s actually really good at it,” she added.

Tennis aside, a glimpse at Olympia’s Instagram account shows that she’s inherited her mom’s athleticism, having spent time on the golf course, dancing ballet, running track, and playing soccer.

She also takes after her mom with her interest in fashion. She joined Williams at Paris Fashion Week in 2022, where she wore a miniature version of her mom’s hot-pink Balmain dress, as seen in a post the tennis star uploaded to Instagram. Williams previously told InStyle that Olympia has opinions about what her mom wears. “She keeps me very humble…She’ll say, ‘oh that’s ugly,’” Williams said.

Olympia Ohanian and her younger sister Adira River Ohanian in August 2023.Instagram/@olympiaohanian

Almost 6 years after welcoming Olympia, Williams and Ohanian made her a big sister. Adira River Ohanian, arrived on August 15, 2023. Williams first revealed her pregnancy at the Met Gala in May 2023, where Ohanian cradled her stomach as they posed for photos. In a now-deleted social media post, Williams wrote that she “was so excited when Anna Wintour invited the 3 of us to the Met Gala,”The New York Times reported at the time.

In an Instagram post made on Adira’s first birthday, the athlete explained that her child’s name is a Biblical one. “Adira is a girl’s name of Hebrew origin and means ‘mighty,’ ‘strong,’ and ‘majestic,’” she wrote in the caption.

Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams at the 2023 Met Gala.Christopher Polk/WWD via Getty Images

At just 1 year old, Adira’s already shown herself to be “a tough little cookie,” according to her mom. “Olympia is a very hard act to follow, but I tell you what, Adira has followed it and it’s just so crazy,” Williams told People in 2024. “She’s amazing. I just can’t wait for people to see how amazing she is in her own way. And she’s so special and she’s so tough […] she reminds me a lot of me in that aspect.”

Like her mom and older sister, Adira has opinions about fashion already. “When Olympia was like 15 months, she would go to her closet and pick something,” Williams previously told InStyle. “It sounds weird, and I was like, maybe I’m making it up, until Adira did the same thing around the same age.”

The tot also knows her way around a tennis court. In November 2024, Williams uploaded a heartwarming video to Instagram of Adira and her on the clay. The clip shows the 1-year-old throwing one of her mom’s tennis balls toward the fence while Williams follows her and laughs.

“When’s too early?” the proud mom captioned the post. Fans in the comments section couldn’t help but speculate on whether the Ohanian sisters might just be the next Venus and Serena.