Serena Williams’ mini-me, daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., may not be following in her tennis footsteps after all.
Fans, and maybe even Serena and their husband Alexis Ohanian, knew for certain that Olympia had the makings of a future tennis phenom when she started taking lessons as a toddler in 2020.
While she is only 5 years old, and there are still so many more years ahead for her full potential at the sport — as well as others — to develop, Serena said the passion to play is not there.
In a recent interview for “Person to Person with Norah O’Donnell,” the world-renowned athlete revealed that her daughter “doesn’t actually like to play tennis too much.”
The seven-time Wimbledon title winner added, “That’s a little disappointing for me, but she’s actually really good at it.”
The little tike has been spotted twinning with her mother on and off the tennis court, as well as in the stands, rocking her mother’s and her equally famous aunt Venus’ childhood beaded hairstyles at various matches.
Serena said that not all hope is lost, though. “So we are trying to figure out a way to get her to play a little bit.” O’Donnell suggested that making the game more social by allowing Olympia to play with peers might actually do the trick.
“Olympia loves being social,” remarked the tennis icon as she noted how social the sport was for her as she played alongside her sister Venus Williams.
“That makes sense that girls like to have that social sport, and it’s a social aspect of that. I think that’s actually super, super important. She loves being around friends. She loves going to school. Maybe I can push her into tennis by getting other kids to have a group lesson.”
She continued, “I think that’s what I’m gonna do. You just gave me a nice clue, because I really want her to play at least a little bit because she’s actually really good at it.”
In a 2020 interview with People, the Compton native said she and Alexis signed their daughter up for lessons to occupy some of her time during the COVID-19 shutdown.
“Honestly, we started because it’s a socially safe sport, and when COVID happened, it was like, we’re just in the house with a 3-year-old, what do we do? There was only one answer, to my dismay,” she told the publication.
Last September, Serena stepped away from the sport — though she has tiptoed around calling it her official retirement after 26 years of professional competition — after she lost to Ajla Tomlijanovic.
Prior to the U.S. Open match, she had signaled that her time to end her reign over the sport was nearing.
