Watch: Serena Williams has Star Wars-inspired battle with daughter Olympia
While the world's best tennis players are dueling it out at the 2022 Australian Open title, Serena Williams fought a battle of her own in her house. The American drove tennis and Star Wars fans on Instagram wild with her latest video, where she and her daughter Olympia duked it out with toy lightsabers in their living room.
The one-minute-long clip, uploaded on Wednesday, has gone viral and garnered more than 1.5 million views on Instagram. Williams, clad in black, played the part of 'the Empire' during the reenactment, while Olympia, in all-red, took on the role of 'the Rebels'.
The two exchanged blows with ferocity around the room, accompanied by a running commentary by the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
"Single camera one shot battle Royal with @olympiaohanian," the video was captioned by Serena.
Among the many who enjoyed the video was Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou. The Frenchman poked fun at his protege's footwork, pointing out that her forward movement was lacking.
"Please move forward! Footwork!!!! 😂" Mouratoglou commented.
Her husband Alexis Ohanian, presumably the one behind the camera as the mother-daugher duo traded blows, also commented on the post. The 38-year-old wondered if anyone could add the lightsaber effect to the video and make it look more realistic.
"Someone put some lightsaber VFX and SFX on this please," Ohanian commented.
Olympia's Instagram account also shared a couple of photos of the four-year-old posing with two sets of lightsabers prior to the "battle" and her hair made-up in a mohawk.
"Ready set battle," the post was captioned on Instagram.
Serena Williams is a huge Disney and Star Wars fan
It is no secret that Serena Williams is a huge fan of Disney. When she married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in November 2017, the theme of the wedding was a Disney-inspired fairytale.
"The whole fairy-tale idea came to us early on," the wedding planner Jennifer Zabinski said. "Serena Williams is very girly. She was like, 'I love Disney, how can we incorporate it in?'"
The former World No. 1 visited Disney World along with her family a couple of years back. During the visit, Williams took the time to visit the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge exhibit at Disney's Hollywood Studios section.
In honor of #MayThe4th, let's relive @serenawilliams visit to @Disney! ✨ https://t.co/xQtRQJZH6h
Williams was particularly excited about sharing the experience with her then two-year-old daughter. She even revealed that she had been looking forward to the visit since the time she was pregnant.
"Being a crazy Disney World fan, I’ve literally been waiting on this moment since I was pregnant," Serena said. "This is like a dream come true. I feel like Olympia already loves it."
Williams was last seen in action during her first-round retirement against Aliaksandra Sasnovich at Wimbledon last year. She has missed the 2021 US Open and this year's Australian Open due to injury.