Serena Williams paid Stephen Colbert a visit from the future on January 25 — well, sort of. The 23-time Grand Slam champion, 39, joined The Late Show host for a conversation as she quarantines in Australia for the first Grand Slam of the year. But Serena isn’t alone. She has her husband, Alexis Ohanian, and the couple’s three-year-old daughter, Olympia, by her side! “We are big fans of Olympia,” Stephen gushed to the tennis great, holding up the Instagram photo Serena shared of Olympia’s tennis lesson on January 12.
“She looks like a fierce competitor! What is she like on the court?” Stephen asked. “She’s a perfectionist on the court,” Serena confessed, joking that she’s “not quite sure where [Olympia] got that from.” Though Serena has proven time and again how much she adores the sport she has been trailblazing for decades, she admitted that she “never thought I would let my daughter play tennis. But…during this pandemic, it was the only thing that we could do safely,” she revealed.
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“And, so, I’m like, ‘Well, tennis it is!'” Serena has been documenting each of Olympia’s lessons on her Instagram account, and the three-year-old is practically the spitting image of her accomplished, inspiring mom. Then again, that is a lot for the toddler to live up to! “It’s all consuming, it’s stressful, it’s a lot of work. It’s a huge commitment,” Serena confessed. “And it might be a little dab of pressure on her. So, I wouldn’t actually put her in it, but if that is something that she wanted to do, I would absolutely be like, ‘Oh my gosh, you should totally do that!'”
The mother-of-one even admitted that, if Olympia chose to get into competitive tennis, her mom would be right there “rooting for her and supporting her.” Serena did, however, admit that tennis wouldn’t be the “first thing” that she would suggest for her daughter to get into. For now, though, Olympia seems to be having a blast with her mom on the court!
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And in the weeks to come, the three-year-old will have the opportunity to watch her mom compete for her record-tying 24th Grand Slam title at the 2021 Australian Open. The last time Serena won a Grand Slam, it was actually in Melbourne in 2017 during the AO. At the time, she was pregnant with Olympia! We cannot wait to see Serena hit the court on February 8!