Serena Williams has seemingly discovered all the difficulties and challenges of parenting as the former WTA star remarked that she will call her mother just to express gratitude for everything that she did for her. 

The American tennis icon, who retired from pro tennis in 2022, became a parent for the first time when her daughter Olympia was born in 2017. In the summer of 2023, her family further expanded after she and her husband Alexis Ohanian welcomed their second child, Adira River.

Even before her second daughter was born, Williams openly spoke about parenting not being the easiest thing in the world. And now with two kids to take care of, the 43-year-old has seemingly been left without any time for herself.

“Far too often being a mom is a thankless full time job, with no time or energy left to care for yourself or move at the end of the day. I’m gonna thank my mom tomorrow for all she did for me -the things seen and unseen,” the former 23-time Grand Slam champion wrote on X.

Williams didn’t want to get pregnant as a player again

When the American won the 2017 Australian Open title, she was already pregnant. That was her last tournament of the 2017 season and she didn’t play again until 2018 March.

When revealing her plans to retire at the 2022 US Open, the former world No. 1 reflected on returning to tennis after pregnancy and said that she wouldn’t do it again.

“I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out,” the American tennis icon said at the time.

Several months after concluding her astonishing career, Williams announced in 2023 May that she was pregnant. Later that summer, her second child was born.