"I don’t know how she does it... It's incredibly disheartening" - When Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian denounced racist abuse she faced online
Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian once opened up about the emotional toll of witnessing the tennis legend suffer racist abuse on social media. Ohanian emphasized that it was disappointing that people displayed such animosity towards athletes, who deserved to be celebrated for their accomplishments.
The American tennis legend was forced to deal with an immense amount of racism during her playing days, facing derogatory comments from the media and hostile behavior from crowds.
One infamous incident took place during the 2001 Indian Wells Open final, when Serena Williams, Venus Williams and their father were subjected to jeers and "racial slurs" by the crowd, which led to the Williams sisters boycotting the WTA 1000 event for 14 years.
With the rise of social media, such fans gained an easier outlet to direct racist abuse towards players. Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian witnessed firsthand the abuse the 23-time Grand Slam champion had to endure.
In a 2020 interview with CNN, Ohanian expressed disbelief over how the former World No. 1 dealt with the online vitriol, asserting that it was "incredibly disheartening" to see people mistreating athletes who had "demonstrably excelled" through their own hard work and talent.
"I don’t know how she does it," Ohanian said. "[These athletes] didn’t get there just because their dad gave them the job and they’re CEO now. This is where we would hope as humanity to see the very best of us shine and then celebrate it.
"It’s incredibly disheartening and discouraging to see the ills of this make the experience so bad for people who have demonstrably excelled," he added.
Ohanian also disclosed that having a "front-row seat" to Williams' journey as a professional athlete had shattered his earlier belief that tech was the hardest working industry.
"As a fan of sport for all of my life and then someone who’s got a front-row seat to [see] what it really takes, I do have a new appreciation for just how intense it is," Serena Williams' husband said.
"I thought we worked hard in tech. I really did. I naively thought, 'Oh, we’re the hardest-working industry,' which is a total farce. What pro athletes do mentally and physically, day in and day out, is just another level," he added.
Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian on investing in AI company to curb racist hate speech on social media: "We’re going to need software to ease the burden"
Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian took action to curb the racist hate and harassment directed towards athletes on social media by funding a company called Sentropy.
During the aforementioned interview, the Reddit co-founder explained how the artificial intelligence program developed by the company would "ease the burden" of moderating the abuse towards Williams and other players.
"Because humans alone can’t moderate it, we’re going to need software to help ease the burden," Ohanian said. "The best thing, obviously, would be to work directly with platforms. But they have different speeds for adopting technology like this."
Ohanian also shed light on his efforts to match Serena Williams' contributions to making the "world better" for their daughter Olympia.