"Told Olympia she was in my belly when I won" - Serena Williams on her daughter's 'surprise' at learning she won Australian Open 2017 while pregnant
Serena Williams has said that her elder daughter Olympia was surprised after learning that Williams won the 2017 Australian Open when she was pregnant with her.
The 2017 Australian Open saw Williams battle past Belinda Bencic, Lucie Safarova, Nicole Gibbs, Barbora Strycova, Johanna Konta, and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to reach the final. Williams faced her elder sister Venus in the final, who had defeated Kateryna Kozlova, Stefanie Vogele, Duan Yingying, Mona Barthel, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and CoCo Vandeweghe.
Serena Williams downed her sister 6-4, 6-4 in the final to lift her seventh Australian Open title and 23rd Grand Slam title overall as she surpassed Steffi Graf's record. At the time, she was around eight weeks pregnant with Olympia, her first child with Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit. The two eventually tied the knot later that year.
In a recent interview, Williams was asked if she has started to share stories from her trophy-laden tennis career with her two daughters. The 23-time Grand Slam winner welcomed her second child with Ohanian, Adira River, last year.
Williams said that Olympia is at an age now where she has begun wondering about the reason for her mother's fame. The 42-year-old also revealed Olympia's surprise after she learned that Williams was pregnant with her during her title-winning 2017 Australian Open campaign.
"Yeah, Olympia's now at an age where she's like, ‘Listen, I am wondering, why are you so famous?’ She was like, ‘You're a great tennis player.’ And so I told her the other day that she actually was in my belly when I won a big tournament [the 2017 Australian Open] and she was surprised. She's at an age now where I can kind of open up to her a little bit more," Williams told People.
Serena Williams' 2017 Australian Open triumph helped her reclaim the WTA World No. 1 ranking
Williams' 2016 campaign ended prematurely after a shoulder injury compelled her to withdraw from the year-end WTA Finals. Her spell on the sidelines saw her slip to World No. 2 in the WTA Tour rankings. However, her title triumph at the 2017 Australian Open saw her become World No. 1 again.
Despite her pregnancy, Williams was intent on playing at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open. However, a knee injury dashed her hopes of appearing at the prestigious WTA 1000 events on home soil.
In April 2017, Williams announced her pregnancy to the world and cut short the remainder of her season. Olympia was born on September 1, 2017. Following Olympia's birth, Williams was left bedridden for six weeks due to severe health complications.
However, she made a return to the sport in February next year, featuring in the Fed Cup to play doubles alongside Venus.