Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian’s meet-cute was like something out of a rom-com. According to her August 2017 cover story with Vanity Fair, Serena met Alexis in May 2015 when he sat next to her during a hotel breakfast. But Serena and her crew were using that table, so to get him to move, her friends told Alexis they saw a rat.
When he asked if there was really a rat, Serena responded, “No, we just don’t want you sitting there. We’re going to use that table.” Needless to say, it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. Luckily, her agent Jill Smoller invited Alexis to Serena’s match that night, and the rest is history.
According to the Vanity Fair interview, Alexis never even watched a tennis match before meeting Serena. His lack of tennis knowledge was put on full display in May 2015, when he Instagrammed a photo of Serena’s foot fault. (A foot fault happens when a tennis player’s foot touches any part of the baseline during a serve.) Good thing she didn’t seem to mind.
Both Serena and Alexis are super successful. Serena won 23 Grand Slam titles before announcing her retirement in August 2022. But she’s not the only one with plenty of career accolades under her belt. Alexis is the co-founder of the website Reddit.
Nearly a year and a half after they met, Alexis proposed at the Cavalieri Hotel in December 2016. The perfect full-circle moment.
Serena and Alexis’ November 2017 wedding had quite the guest list, including Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and Cynthia Erivo.
Both parents have gushed about their family life. "It's just been so amazing to have [Alexis] in my life and to have my daughter in my life as well. He has done so much for the family and for us." Serena told the Today Show in April 2019.
Serena began renovating her Miami mansion shortly after she started dating Alexis, so he had no say in the interior design. Instead, she turned to Venus Williams’ interior design firm V Starr for help with the property.
“We had just met,” Serena explained to Architectural Digest in 2021. “And I wasn’t going to be like, ‘Hey, let’s do this together.’ That would have been really weird for him.” Venus added, “Yeah. That would’ve been kind of creepy.”
This couple has definitely achieved GOAT status, and it seems like they know it. In February 2018, Alexis publicly showed his appreciation for Serena by installing four billboards around Palm Springs, California saying she’s the “greatest mom of all time.” The over-the-top gesture welcomed Serena back to tennis after giving birth to their daughter in September.