Another baby on the court — and at the Met Gala! Serena Williams is pregnant and expecting her second child with husband Alexis Ohanian, the tennis champ revealed on Fashion’s Biggest Night.
“Was so excited when Anna Wintour invited the 3 of us to the Met Gala,” the iconic athlete, 41, wrote via Instagram on Monday, May 1, alongside multiple photos of her and the Reddit cofounder, 40, dressed to the nines at the New York City soiree.
Williams stunned in custom Gucci, wearing a form-fitting, mermaid-style gown that showed off her growing baby bump, which she cradled in several of the sweet pics. She and Ohanian — who are also the proud parents of daughter Olympia, 5 — color-coordinated in dark ensembles, though the 23-time Grand Slam winner opted for a lot more glitz and glam: she accentuated her dress with rhinestones and a waterfall of pearls that cascaded down her neck. The frock crescendoed into a white tulle fabric at the bottom.
It is the second pregnancy announcement for Williams, whose 2017 reveal – she was expecting daughter Olympia at the time – did not go as planned. In April 2017, five months before giving birth to her first-born in September of that year, Williams accidentally shared her pregnancy news when she mistakenly uploaded a photo of her baby bump to Snapchat.
“On social media you press the wrong button and … 30 minutes later I missed 4 calls and I’m like, ‘That’s weird,’” she told Gayle King at a TED conference that same month.
The seven-time Wimbledon champion revealed that she took the photo to privately document the pregnancy.
“I have this thing where I’ve been checking my status and taking pictures every week to see how far along I’m getting,” the athlete explained. “I’ve been so good about it, but this was the one time it slipped.”
Williams has been loving motherhood ever since. “She keeps me going especially during tournaments,” the Michigan native wrote via Instagram in 2019. “I know she’s watching and learning to see how I persevere in challenging and rewarding moments.”
In 2020, the former Olympian won her first singles title since becoming a mom.
In August, Williams announced she was retiring from tennis after the U.S. Open. “I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” Williams wrote in an essay for Vogue‘s September cover story. “But I’ve been reluctant to admit to myself or anyone else that I have to move on from playing tennis. Alexis, my husband, and I have hardly talked about it; it’s like a taboo topic. I can’t even have this conversation with my mom and dad. It’s like it’s not real until you say it out loud.”
The four-time Olympic gold medalist said that she will instead focus on developing her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, and expanding her family. “Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair,” she continued. “If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family. Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.”
