23 Surprising Facts About Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian’s Love Story

Therefore, here we have brought for you some of the strange facts about Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian’s journey to marriage

Marriage a special one

The world knows Serena as a great tennis player and she has undoubtedly proved this.  With 23 Grand Slam (single) titles she is now a sports superstar. She has been the highest-paid athlete in female in for the second time in consequently in 2017.

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Her husband is no less popular in the industry. Alexis Ohanian is an internet entrepreneur and the co-founder of Reddit and Initialized Capital.  He has been a longtime activist for Net Neutrality and later in 2012, Forbes dubbed him the “Mayor of the Internet.”

A ‘meet-cute’ by chance

Not every love story starts at first sight… It was by chance when they met at the Cavalieri hotel in Rome.  Williams was enjoying breakfast with her friend’s group while lounging near the poolside.  Ohanian came to the same place, but he didn’t notice the other empty tables and unknowingly decided to lay down right beside the tennis star.

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Their First Meeting

Williams talked to Vanity Fair about their first meeting: “This big guy comes, and he plops down at the table next to us, and I’m like, ‘Huh! All these tables and he’s sitting here?” Then someone in her group tried getting Ohanian away from them and said there was a rat by his table. “And he’s like, ‘Is there a rat here?”

He added, “I’m from Brooklyn. I see rats all the time.” “Oh, you’re not afraid of rats?” Williams asked. To which he replied, “No.”

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That was the moment when Williams got fascinated by his wittiness, and then she took interest in continuing the chit chat.  She invited Ohanian to join her group and what happened next is the history as they say.  Aww… how cute!  I guess everyone would have the same expression after reading their story.

Those fifteen months of secret dating

So the romance was in the air, but the couple kept it private and avoided the shutterbugs. They dated each other for almost 15 months, on the sly. They finally came up with the announcement of their engagement and made it public in December 2016.

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Ohanian took the help of social media, and he dropped hints occasionally though he didn’t scoop in Williams’ own feed for a year after their meet.  In August 2016, there was a group photo of Williams shared on social media. In this photo, the sports superstar teased her top-secret hero by cutely referring him ‘the nerd.’

The Speculations

Since they kept their relation more like a confidential thing, rumors were in the air of Williams dating other people like music rappers Common and Drake.  It was the time when Ohanian had just come out of his relationship with his college time girlfriend and a microbiologist by profession Sabriya Stukes.

The sports- tech couple kept their relationship under wraps so intelligently that no one could even guess anything about them. But… only till October 2015 as a report came of the two having lunch together.  And then starts the speculations throughout.

 A shocking revelation of pregnancy

Then came a very appalling revelation or better to say an accidental revelation but that traveled throughout the world in a blink of an eye.  Williams, by chance, bring out the news of her first pregnancy.

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She shared a selfie showing her baby bump and captioned it “20 weeks” on Snapchat. However, she deleted it soon, but that was enough to get captured by the eyes. Fans were stunned but not the secret couple as they got to know they are expecting.

 Six pregnancy tests

It was few weeks before the Australian Open in January; Williams had been feeling discomfort. She got some intuitions and went for a pregnancy test.

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“I did a double-take” she recalled in an interview to Vanity Fair. “And my heart dropped. Like literally it dropped. Oh my God, this can’t be — I’ve got to play a tournament. How am I going to play the Australian Open? I had planned on winning Wimbledon this year.”

 Not to ready to accept the pregnancy

The tennis star was not to prepared to accept it; she wanted to have something more convincing. She then took five more tests, and as earlier, they were all positive. Ohanian then flew into Melbourne to meet his girlfriend, and Williams handed him a paper bag containing all six pregnancy tests.

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Eventually, Williams decided to go to the competition as she had planned. Many of you might not be familiar to this story, Williams won her 23rd Grand Slam title when she was certainly eight weeks pregnant.

 The couple, clueless about each other’s profession

Williams and Ohanian come from a different background, and the exciting part is that both at the top of their respective fields. But what they were lacking is the knowledge about each other’s fields.  They were completely clueless about one another’s careers when they met for the first time.

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While talking to Vanity Fair, Ohanian told that during their first conversation he was “98 percent sure” he was speaking to Serena Williams, but tennis was something of his least interest or said no interest. He said, “I had never watched a tennis match on television or in real life. It was the sport — even if ESPN were announcing tennis updates, I would zone out … I had no respect for tennis.”

 No idea about Reddit

Even the other side story was no less than his; Williams had no idea about Reddit, either. However, she tried to impress him but that in that attempt, she was nearly got caught as she took the help of a white lie.  She told Reddit’s  co-founder that she had just logged onto the popular site earlier that morning. “Oh, were you? What do you like about it?” Ohanian asked her. She’d replied, “Wellllll….” Fortunately, Williams’ friends quickly interrupted in the middle to save her. Lucky she was!

shutterstock/ Ohanian cheers Serena Williams of USA during US Open 2018 women’s singles final against Naomi Osaka

But there was something in that meeting that took Ohanian’s towards the Tennis game. He took interest in watching Tennis and attended the 2015 Italian Open to watch Williams in action that week. “Looks like I just became a tennis fan. #priime,” he wrote on, captioning a snapshot of her hitting the court.

Stepping towards Romance with their first official date

The couples didn’t make it late and had their first official date soon after their first meeting. Williams was gearing up to compete in the French Open 2015, (she won as well), but she also made it a chance to see her new crush. She invited Ohanian to join her for a weekend getaway in the city of love- Paris.

Ohanian responded in yes to the invite but as he said, he didn’t have any expectations for the trip. He shared his thoughts with Vanity Fair  “Even if she blows me off and we don’t even hang out, I’m still going to have an amazing time in Paris, and I’ll have an even better story for all my childhood friends when I was like, ‘Yeah, I went to Paris for a weekend. I was supposed to meet up with Serena Williams, she blew me off, but I’ve got other friends there, and we had a great time.”

World-Class Travellers

Ohanian, who is a world-class traveler, led the way and made it sure that his date should be celebrated. To make his date the best of their time, they visited the Eiffel Tower, a number of small shops, and a zoo. Yes, the destined couple hit it off and wandered in the city of love for almost six hours.

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A confession of love forever

Even before celebrating their first anniversary together, Ohanian was sure he wanted to marry Williams. “I felt like a door had been opened to a person who made me want to be my best self,” he told Vanity Fair. The tech expert planned a romantic proposal that he wanted to be picture perfect.  Flying out to Rome, Williams put rose petals up to the spot where they first met. He made it a little funny as well and put a plastic rat on the hotel table.

Williams then plucked her courage and announced their engagement through Reddit. She shared her fiancé’s drawing of the Snoos couple kissing each other (Snoos is an alien space mascot of the Reddit website). She even called herself “Future Mrs. Kn0thing, as Alexis’ Reddit username is Kn0thing. Ohanian replied to her post, “And you made me the happiest man on the planet.” This was something charming.

Did it bring tears of happiness in your eyes?

Health Complications

In September 2017, Williams and Ohanian welcomed their first child, but that made Williams suffer from the nightmare of postpartum health complications.

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Talking to Vogue, Williams spoke about her motherhood story; she revealed that in her final days of pregnancy her plummeting heart rate during contractions led to an emergency C-section, after this, the newborn’s father Ohanian cut the cord and firmly placed their little daughter on Williams’ chest. She said, “That was an amazing feeling. And then everything went bad.”

 It Made Her Stronger

Williams suffered through shortness of breath, over the next week after the birth. It was due to small blood clots in her lungs and an intense coughing fit. That brought some more pain to her and opened up her C-section wound. She went under surgery to close it; at that time, doctors found a large hematoma that had flooded her abdomen. It was six weeks she spent recovering at home and was on complete bed rest. “I was happy to change diapers,” Ohanian said. “But on top of everything she was going through, the feeling of not being able to help made it even harder.”

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But it never discouraged her, and in fact, her childbirth complications let her advocate for health care around the world using her platform. “My personal experience was not great, but it was MY experience, and I’m happy it happened to me,” she wrote on Facebook. “It made me stronger.”

An astonishing gesture with a family outing

Ohanian never missed any chance to make their moment a special one. A few days before their wedding, Ohanian rented out an entire movie theatre. He wanted his whole family could watch Thor: Ragnarok together. “Momma needed a day off to relax. She wanted to see her other man, Thor, in Ragnarok.”

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“We’re gonna cover your eyes for all the violent scenes,” Ohanian tells his little girl. Williams adds, “And she has earmuffs on,” ensuring that the comic book flick’s violent images and loud noises would not harm the infant. “Safety first,” Ohanian says, before jokingly adding, “Even though Thor is your mother’s, another man. It’s okay; he’s not that tall.”

The video concluded with an adorable scene; the camera panned towards Williams sound asleep, her head resting on Ohanian’s shoulder as a pillow. On this portion of the clip, he put the caption saying, “Of course mama fell asleep.”  So very cute.

Disney dreams

Engaged for nearly a year, in November 2017 Williams and Ohanian tied the knot in New Orleans. The ceremony was anything but ordinary. The wedding was Disney themed affair unlike any traditional one.  It was a star-studded wedding and was attended by the likes of Beyoncé, Eva Longoria, and Ciara followed a magical Beauty and the Beast theme.

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Non-traditional as possible

Williams wanted her wedding to be “as non-traditional as possible,” as she told Vogue. And, when she emerged in a dramatic strapless, belted Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen princess gown with a cape, all eyes glued to her. She completed her attire with sparkling jewelry by XIV Karats and a bouquet of white roses in her hand, while Ohanian was looking handsome in an Armani suit.

The two exchanged vows, personally written. “You are the greatest of all time, not just in sport,” he told his beautiful bride. “I’m talking about as a mother and as a wife. I am so excited to write so many more chapters of our fairy tale together. And my whole life I didn’t even realize it, but I was waiting for this moment … I am so grateful, and I am so in love.”

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The Newlyweds First Danced

The Disney-themed ceremony when later transformed into a modern ball, the newlyweds first danced on “Tale as Old as Time” and “If I Can’t Have You.”

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Their ballroom dance was made complete with impressive spins and lifts. The ceremony had lots of surprises, but there was a twist before Ohanian could surprise his beloved wife with an all-white carousel as Ginuwine’s “Pony” played.  There was a surprise performance by New Edition.

Four Billboards 

Ohanian has several times proved that he loves to surprise his wife with his grand gestures, but he may have topped even himself with this one. In February 2018, Williams was gearing up for her highly anticipated return to tennis. It was after giving birth to their daughter and childbirth complications. On the other hand, the start-up master magnificently designed and put up four billboards in support of his tennis pro wife.

Not everyone could suspect the beautiful purpose of those billboards. They thought it to be an homage to that season’s award-winning movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Although Ohanian went to Twitter to extend his feeling, he posts a photo of his handy work. Each billboard featured their daughter Alexis Olympia and mother Williams and boasted an acronym “G.M.O.A.T.” (“Greatest Momma of All Time.”).

And days later, Williams did it. She made her triumphant comeback at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.

Relationship Goals

Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian, she, a tennis star and he, an internet entrepreneur, is a couple with completely different backgrounds. But eventually, these two are total #RelationshipGoals. The couple who initially kept their relationship a secret later opened up. The married pair is now known for sharing their cutest, funniest, and most romantic moments on social media.

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Well, even we have few favorites out of the moments they shared publicly. There are many, but the specials are, the couple having fun with flower filters, sharing an intimate moment on their wedding day, smiling big in their first official family portrait, and busting out dance moves with New Edition.

Williams gushes about her man

Fans cannot stop themselves doing audibly “aww” whenever Williams gushes about her man. “He’s my rock, my backbone, my love. I am so lucky to have found this wonderful man that treats me better than a queen,” she expressed on Instagram at the end of 2017. “I love you Alexis you make me excited to wake up every morning knowing I’ll get to see you.”

Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala – Met Gala – Cam

Since the time they met by chance to the moment they made for each other, everything seemed to be unique and full of sweetness. Their bonding throughout has grown significantly and growing bigger. A family of three hares everything together and completes each other.

Without any disagreement, they are what everybody wishes for- a perfect family. A family filled with joy and a family full of love and care.