{"id":12866,"date":"2017-07-03T08:58:44","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T13:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=12866"},"modified":"2017-07-06T13:57:28","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T18:57:28","slug":"vanity-fairs-goat-of-tennis-cover-story-serena-williams-love-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=12866","title":{"rendered":"VANITY FAIR&#8217;S GOAT OF  TENNIS COVER STORY: SERENA WILLIAMS LOVE MATCH"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"component-header-longform__dek\" data-reactid=\"217\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-12870\" src=\"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/serena-williams-08-17-ss05-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/serena-williams-08-17-ss05-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/serena-williams-08-17-ss05-768x999.jpg 768w, https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/serena-williams-08-17-ss05-787x1024.jpg 787w, https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/serena-williams-08-17-ss05-1080x1405.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/serena-williams-08-17-ss05.jpg 1107w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/>Last January, on the eve of the Australian Open, Serena Williams handed her fianc\u00e9, Alexis Ohanian, a paper bag containing six positive pregnancy tests. It was just the latest surprise in an unlikely pairing: the world\u2019s greatest tennis player and the geek co-founder of Reddit. From their first date\u2014a magical six hours in Paris\u2014to their plans for the baby\u2019s arrival, this is the full love story.<\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"component-header-longform__details-wrapper\" data-reactid=\"219\">\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"252\">\n<p data-reactid=\"253\"><strong>This is a love story.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"254\"><strong>It wasn\u2019t seamless, starry eyes at first light. There was a discovery, unexpected and shocking. There were moments of really getting pissed and the standard irritation that comes when one half of the whole kept leaving the suitcase in the hallway. But there were also moments of unplanned intimacy that is the only true kind of intimacy in a love story, soft touches and laughter and absurdity, because you need absurdity in a love story, since love is slightly absurd anyway, a feeling that, like eternity, is indefinable.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"255\"><strong>Which leads us, on the surface at least, to the seemingly mismatched pairing of 35-year-old Serena Williams and her fianc\u00e9, 34-year-old Alexis Ohanian. She is the beyond remarkable tennis player, although all superlatives are pointless. He is in the high cotton of high tech as the co-founder of the Web site Reddit, which has 234 million unique monthly users. They became <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/2016\/12\/guess-where-serena-williams-announced-her-engagement-to-a-reddit-founder\">engaged<\/a> last December, after first meeting roughly a year and a half earlier, then found out in January that Serena was pregnant. They will be married in the fall after the birth of the baby.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"AMS_VYF_ARTICLE_INTEGRATED_INSTREAM\" class=\"component-consumer-marketing cm-unit\" data-reactid=\"256\">\n<div id=\"cns_ads_1499088176175nv7bjBnfJriQkOWn4TgWRq9G3JGRB7_AMS_VYF_ARTICLE_INTEGRATED_INSTREAM_0_stage\" class=\"cns-ads-stage cns-ads-slot-type-ams-vyf-article-integrated-instream cns-ads-slot-type-ams-vyf-article-integrated-instream-0 cns-ads-slot-size-793x210 cns-ads-slot-state-filled\" data-name=\"AMS_VYF_ARTICLE_INTEGRATED_INSTREAM_0\" data-slot-type=\"AMS_VYF_ARTICLE_INTEGRATED_INSTREAM\">\n<div id=\"cns_ads_1499088176175nv7bjBnfJriQkOWn4TgWRq9G3JGRB7_AMS_VYF_ARTICLE_INTEGRATED_INSTREAM_0_container\" class=\"cns-ads-container\" data-google-query-id=\"CNCAvNua7dQCFVKuAQodLnwBgw\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_3379\/vanityfair.cm\/style\/celebrity_3__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_3379\/vanityfair.cm\/style\/celebrity_3\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_3379\/vanityfair.cm\/style\/celebrity_3\" width=\"793\" height=\"210\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-reactid=\"259\">\n<div class=\"callout feature-large\" data-type=\"callout\">\n<div class=\"embed image row\">\n<figure class=\"embedded-image\" data-type=\"image\">\n<div class=\"pinterest-link-container\"><strong><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/59514bbfae24eb306c9cd840\/master\/h_1440,c_limit\/serena-williams-08-17-cover.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pin-desc=\"\" data-pin-credits=\"\" \/><\/strong><\/div><figcaption class=\"caption callout-image-caption\">\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div class=\"credits\"><strong>Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-reactid=\"260\"><strong>With 23 grand-slam wins on the women\u2019s pro tennis tour spanning nearly three decades\u2014from her first, at 17 years old, in September of 1999, to her latest, at 35, in January of 2017, and the most in the open era\u2014Serena is in the heart of every conversation concerning the best athlete of her time. \u201cIf I were a man, then it wouldn\u2019t be any sort of question,\u201d she told me. She may well be right, a society still conditioned to believe that men are better than women in everything except the superfluous.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"261\"><strong>Alexis, on the other hand, had never seen a tennis match until he met Serena, in May of 2015 in Rome. He knew so little about the game that the photo he excitedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/2naDemGEln\/?taken-by=alexisohanian&amp;hl=en\">posted on Instagram<\/a> of her playing her first match in the Italian Open showed her foot faulting.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"262\"><strong>Serena plays a sport that requires the mental focus of instantaneously letting go of losing points and moving on because there are a lot of excruciating ones no matter how great you are, continual regrouping and re-inventing: dwell on them, you lose confidence; lose confidence and you lose. She is also superbly conditioned, given that a female tennis player may run about three miles in a match without the luxury of coming out of the game because you feel winded or lost too much money gambling with teammates the night before on the charter and would rather mope on the bench.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-in-text-mobile-ad-container\" data-reactid=\"263\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<p data-reactid=\"264\"><strong>Alexis\u2019s athletic history amounted to the level of a very gangly defensive tackle for Howard High School in Ellicott City, Maryland, far more interested in science fairs and programming and building Web sites. His skill at tennis is not one of potential; when Serena offered to give him a lesson, he turned it down so he could tell his friends that he once turned down a lesson with Serena Williams.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-in-text-tablet-ad-container\" data-reactid=\"265\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<p data-reactid=\"266\"><strong>Serena has been romantically linked in the past to such rappers as Drake and Common. Once, when she and Alexis went to a movie in San Francisco, he got up from his seat to get popcorn, earning the admiration of the kid at the counter.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4 data-reactid=\"267\"><strong>Reddit, Rome, and rats? Watch the video below for a primer on the unlikely beginning of Serena Williams\u2019s and Alexis Ohanian\u2019s romance.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<div data-reactid=\"268\">\n<div class=\"embed block row iframe\">\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed iframe-embed-component \" data-type=\"iframe\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wOnokQC5EQU?ecver=1\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wOnokQC5EQU?ecver=1\" width=\"960\" height=\"410\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-reactid=\"269\"><strong>\u201cYo, dude, that wasn\u2019t Serena Williams, was it?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"270\"><strong>\u201cCome on. Me? Really?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"271\"><strong>\u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"272\">\n<p data-reactid=\"273\"><strong>Before we get to how Serena and Alexis actually met, or a better sense of who he really is, or her reaction to the pregnancy and how she told him, it\u2019s probably wise to spend a little time with Serena Williams to give our love story some context.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-in-text-desktop-ad-container\" data-reactid=\"274\">\n<div id=\"cns_ads_14990881761473PdlRrUxo9IzB77Vat9lXkvA1x2Mnj_article_in_text_0_stage\" class=\"cns-ads-stage cns-ads-slot-type-article-in-text cns-ads-slot-type-article-in-text-0 cns-ads-slot-size-728x90 cns-ads-slot-state-filled\" data-name=\"article_in_text_0\" data-slot-type=\"article_in_text\">\n<div id=\"cns_ads_14990881761473PdlRrUxo9IzB77Vat9lXkvA1x2Mnj_article_in_text_0_container\" class=\"cns-ads-container\" data-google-query-id=\"CPXmm4ud7dQCFcgoaQodmJYP_g\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_3379\/vanityfair.dart\/style\/celebrity_4__container__\"><strong><span style=\"line-height: inherit;\">Let\u2019s just get this out of the way right now: Serena Williams is the <\/span><a style=\"line-height: inherit;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/culture\/2015\/09\/andy-roddick-serena-williams-interview\">best tennis player<\/a><span style=\"line-height: inherit;\"> in history, with an aggregate winning percentage of 85.76 percent and 72 tournaments won on the Women\u2019s Tennis Association tour (including the 23 grand-slam victories in 29 singles finals, not to mention 14 doubles finals with sister Venus). She has earned $84,463,131 in career prize money and nearly twice that in endorsements and appearance fees.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-reactid=\"276\"><strong>Thirty is the point of no return for most female tennis players, but Serena has only gotten better since, with 10 grand-slam wins and almost running the four-tournament table\u2014the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open\u2014in 2015. She has been ranked No. 1 in the world longer than anyone other than Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova, and is the obvious favorite to win any tournament she chooses to play in.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"277\"><strong>But then an unforeseen discovery left both Serena and Alexis in shock. Which is perfect for our love story, since a love story without drama is just another story.<\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"272\">\n<h2 data-reactid=\"279\"><strong>JANUARY 2017<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"280\">\n<p data-reactid=\"281\"><strong>It began to unfold roughly a week before the beginning of the Australian Open, in Melbourne, last January, not that anyone would have known. After playing poorly in her first match of the year, in which she felt she had missed too many backhands, she went to the practice court and for two and a half to three hours hit 2,500 of them, by her estimation. If she missed one, she started over. She did roughly the same the next practice day.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"282\"><strong>But she felt a little different physically. She had unexpectedly thrown up at one point and her breasts had enlarged. She thought it might be hormonal. But her friend Jessica Steindorff immediately suspected something else and suggested a pregnancy test. Serena thought it was ludicrous.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-in-text-tablet-ad-container\" data-reactid=\"283\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<p data-reactid=\"284\"><strong>Jessica worked on her for two days until Serena relented, and so Jessica went to a pharmacy and bought a pregnancy kit.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"285\"><strong>\u201cI\u2019ll take it just because (a) to prove you wrong and (b) because it\u2019s fun, whatever. It\u2019s like a joke. Why not?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\"286\">\n<div class=\"callout feature-large\" data-type=\"callout\">\n<div class=\"embed image row\">\n<figure class=\"embedded-image\" data-type=\"image\">\n<div class=\"pinterest-link-container\"><strong><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/59512a6b35b45c3f579b6b09\/master\/h_1440,c_limit\/serena-williams-08-17-ss02.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pin-desc=\"GRANDSTAND \u201cI don\u2019t know what to do with a baby. I have nothing.... I\u2019ve done absolutely nothing for the baby room.\u201d \" data-pin-credits=\"\" \/><\/strong><\/div><figcaption class=\"caption callout-image-caption\">\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><strong>GRANDSTAND \u201cI don\u2019t know what to do with a baby. I have nothing&#8230;. I\u2019ve done absolutely nothing for the baby room.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"credits\"><strong>Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-reactid=\"287\"><strong>That Friday, as Serena was doing her hair and makeup for an event sponsored by the lingerie company Berlei, where she is a spokesperson for its line of sports bras, she took the test in the bathroom. \u201cI put it down. I went back to finishing hair and makeup, was laughing, talking. I was getting the styling done. An hour and a half later, I went back to the bathroom and I totally forgot about it because it was impossible for me. . . . So I went back to get dressed and I went back in the bathroom and I was like, \u2018Oh yeah, that test.\u2019 \u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-in-text-mobile-ad-container\" data-reactid=\"288\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<p data-reactid=\"289\"><strong>Jessica shrieked in delight at the results. Serena, as she put it, \u201cdid a double take and my heart dropped. Like literally it dropped.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"290\"><strong>\u201cOh my God, this can\u2019t be\u2014I\u2019ve got to play a tournament,\u201d said Serena. \u201cHow am I going to play the Australian Open? I had planned on winning Wimbledon this year.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"291\"><strong>But never underestimate the Serena Stubbornness, as legendary in certain circles as her first serve. Beleaguered Jessica went back to the hotel pharmacy and bought five more test kits to further convince her.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"292\"><strong>Test No. 2: Positive. Test No. 3: Positive. Test No. 4: Positive. Test No. 5: Positive. Test No. 6: Positive.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"293\"><strong>Which is an opportune time in our love story to bring in the father and rewind to the moment Serena met Alexis and Alexis met Serena.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-in-text-desktop-ad-container\" data-reactid=\"294\">\n<div id=\"cns_ads_14990881761496d3M7ZDjYjMzGtXQrpdAhw8dkLcfoz_article_in_text_1_stage\" class=\"cns-ads-stage cns-ads-slot-type-article-in-text cns-ads-slot-type-article-in-text-1 cns-ads-slot-size-728x90 cns-ads-slot-state-filled\" data-name=\"article_in_text_1\" data-slot-type=\"article_in_text\">\n<div id=\"cns_ads_14990881761496d3M7ZDjYjMzGtXQrpdAhw8dkLcfoz_article_in_text_1_container\" class=\"cns-ads-container\" data-google-query-id=\"CILOi6-d7dQCFYWnaQod3CUO4g\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_3379\/vanityfair.dart\/style\/celebrity_5__container__\">\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"280\">\n<h2 data-reactid=\"295\"><strong>MAY 2015<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"296\">\n<p data-reactid=\"297\"><strong>Although in his early 30s, there is something still gushingly boyish about Alexis, six feet five inches and lean, with the moppish hairstyle that college tour guides favor as they extol all the wonders of the campus, including the mail room and the six-shooter cereal dispenser. In his case the corporate offices of Reddit, in the Union Square area of San Francisco, which look oddly unfinished\u2014as if to say, Why be bothered with such trivialities in the hip high-tech culture?\u2014twentysomething savants engrossed by their computer screen with heads slightly hunched, the way people used to look when they were engrossed by books, searching for the next Pied Piperian breakthrough and likely finding it before lunch is served on the second floor from a line of stainless-steel buffet trays winking and nodding with nutritious options.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"298\"><strong>Alexis was born in Brooklyn and raised in the nationally known planned community of Columbia, Maryland. Reddit\u2019s origins go back to 2004 during his junior year at the University of Virginia, when he took an L.S.A.T. prep exam for law school, got about midway through the first section, and went to the Waffle House on Route 29 in Charlottesville to have waffles. He realized he did not want to be a lawyer, just as he had also realized that his real love was programming and building Web sites. He teamed with Steve Huffman, an engineering major, whom he had met the first day of freshman year.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\"299\">\n<p data-reactid=\"300\"><strong>They came up with the concept for Reddit, a Web site self-described as \u201cthe front page of the Internet,\u201d in which users interact and respond to a myriad of topics that interest them. The number of users went up rapidly, and, in 2006, 16 months after launching it, he and Huffman, still in their early 20s, sold the company to Cond\u00e9 Nast (which also publishes this magazine) for a reported $10 to $15 million. The price was a fraction of what Reddit has been estimated to be worth today: $4 billion. Alexis sheepishly admitted that they may have sold the company a little early.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-in-text-tablet-ad-container\" data-reactid=\"301\">\n<p data-reactid=\"302\"><strong>He left Reddit and went to Armenia, where his father\u2019s family is originally from, to do volunteer work. He wrote a book called <em>Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed<\/em>, and traveled the United States for five months to promote it on a bus that went to 80 universities because he wanted to be on a bus that traveled around the country. He became a leading voice in stopping government intervention in the Internet. He helped invent the travel Web site Hipmunk. Several years ago, he and Huffman returned to Reddit as executive chairman and chief executive officer, respectively, the company once again independent.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-in-text-desktop-ad-container\" data-reactid=\"303\">\n<p><strong>\u00a0Alexis and Serena met the way two people do in the best love stories: by chance. Actually, it runs a little deeper than that because, let\u2019s face it, Alexis was initially considered by Serena and the others she was with to be an irritant they were hoping would just get the hint and go away.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"306\"><strong>The location was the Cavalieri hotel, in Rome, on May 12, 2015. That night Serena was about to play her first match in the Italian Open. She is not a morning person and usually doesn\u2019t eat breakfast, but the buffet offering at the Cavalieri was beyond extravagant and Jessica was champing at the bit, so they went to try it along with longtime agent Jill Smoller, of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, and Zane Haupt, who handles some business-development opportunities for Serena.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"307\"><strong>The buffet had closed down five minutes before the group got there, so their only recourse was to go to the pool area and sit at a table for four and order breakfast. Other people on Serena\u2019s team were expected at an adjoining table.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"308\"><strong>The night before, Alexis had stayed up until one or two in the morning drinking at a caf\u00e9 with Kristen Wiig and friends\u2014Wiig was in Rome shooting <em>Zoolander 2<\/em>, and he knew her cousin, so he introduced himself. He passed out when he got back to the hotel, where he was staying for the Festival of Media Global conference, and was slightly hungover when he came down to breakfast. He too headed out to the pool area. Which is when he decided without thinking about it to sit at the table next to Serena, his only interest to get coffee and food and put on his headphones and work on his laptop. Which struck Serena and the others as a pain in the neck, since Alexis had a choice of other empty tables.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\"309\">\n<p><strong>\u00a0\u201cI knew it was coming,\u201d she says of the proposal. \u201cI was like, \u2018Serena, you\u2019re ready. This is what you want.\u2019 \u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"310\"><strong>\u201cThis big guy comes and he just plops down at the table next to us, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Huh! All these tables and he\u2019s sitting here?,\u2019 \u201d Serena remembered. Alexis recalled that the pool area was \u201cnot quite so empty.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"311\"><strong>Then came the quintessential Australian accent of Zane Haupt. \u201cAye, mate! There\u2019s a rat. There\u2019s a rat by your table. You don\u2019t want to sit there.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"312\"><strong>Serena started laughing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"313\"><strong>\u201cWe were trying to get him to move and get out of there,\u201d said Serena. \u201cHe kind of refuses and he looks at us. And he\u2019s like, \u2018Is there really a rat here?\u2019 \u201d At which point Serena remembers the first words she ever said to him.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"314\"><strong>\u201cNo, we just don\u2019t want you sitting there. We\u2019re going to use that table.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"315\"><strong>\u201cI\u2019m from Brooklyn. I see rats all the time.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"316\"><strong>\u201cOh, you\u2019re not afraid of rats?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"317\"><strong>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"318\"><strong>Which is when Serena suggested a compromise and invited Alexis to join them.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"319\"><strong>Which is when Alexis became \u201c98 percent sure\u201d that the person asking about his rat tolerance was Serena Williams. He knew generally about her accomplishments on the court. But Alexis, an avid pro-football-and-basketball fan, had \u201cnever watched a match on television or in real life. It was literally the sport\u2014even if ESPN was announcing tennis updates, I would just zone out. . . . I really had no respect for tennis.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"320\"><strong>He did keep this to himself.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"321\"><strong>Serena asked about the tech conference and whom Alexis had come to hear speak. He later described the question as a \u201csoftball lobbed over the plate\u201d that even he could hit out of the park.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"322\"><strong>\u201cActually, I\u2019m here to speak.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"323\"><strong>Alexis told her about Reddit. Serena knew nothing about it but acted as if she did, and said she had been on it earlier in the morning.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"324\"><strong>To which Alexis asked, \u201cOh, were you? What do you like about it?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"325\"><strong>To which Serena gave a very long \u201cWellllll . . . \u201d and was saved by Jessica and Jill chiming in.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4 data-reactid=\"326\"><strong>Serena Williams has long been queen of the tennis court, but her success also extends to business, fashion, and philanthropy. Watch the video below to see\u00a0some of her biggest career achievements.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p data-reactid=\"328\"><strong>Serena started asking him about her Web site and if she should have an app. Alexis thought, \u201cThis is an interesting, charming, beautiful woman.\u201d But he had just come out of a five-year relationship and was still slightly hungover and \u201cI was not thinking beyond \u2018Yeah sure, I can give you some feedback on your Web site.\u2019 \u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"329\"><strong>Serena thought he was interested in Jessica. But she did give him her number\u2014she later said it was only because she might have more tech-related questions. He was eminently likable, and Jill, after finding out he was a client of WME for his speaking gigs, invited him to the match that night.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"330\"><strong>Serena had an injury and did not play well but still won. Afterward she and her team got on a van to head back to the hotel. Alexis was on board as well and Serena freaked out a little bit.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"331\"><strong>\u201cI see this super-tall guy get in our [van], and I was like, \u2018Oh my God, Jill. Tell me what\u2019s wrong. Do I have another stalker? Why is Rome sending personal security with me. . . . And she\u2019s like, \u2018No, that\u2019s Alexis.\u2019 I<\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"304\">\n<p data-reactid=\"331\"><strong>remembered his name because it was a unique name. I was like, \u2018Oh, I remember.\u2019 \u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"332\"><strong>After recognizing him, she invited Alexis to join her team for dinner that night. It didn\u2019t work out. But something was in the air, and as our love story continues, there\u2019s only one place to find out just what.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"333\">\n<p data-reactid=\"334\"><strong>After Serena won the Australian Open, the next big tournament was the second leg of the grand-slam circuit, the French Open, at Roland-Garros, later that month. She texted Alexis that she was bummed that he had not seen her play well in Rome and proposed that maybe he should come to Paris. To Alexis, it was one of those classically inverse L.A.-style invites that are extended because you are sure it will never happen.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"335\"><strong>But Alexis did come to Paris for the weekend. Not that he had any particular expectations. \u201cEven if she blows me off and we don\u2019t even hang out, I\u2019m still going to have an amazing time in Paris, and I\u2019ll have an even better story for all my childhood friends when I was like, \u2018Yeah, I went to Paris for a weekend. I was supposed to meet up with Serena Williams, she blew me off, but I\u2019ve got other friends there, and we had a great time.\u2019 \u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"336\"><strong>The tournament, which Serena would ultimately win, had not started yet. So Alexis and Serena got into an Uber near Serena\u2019s apartment and drove toward the Eiffel Tower. They stopped at a zoo Serena knew about called La M\u00e9nagerie in the Jardin des Plantes, then at a stall selling candies. Serena became excited, like a small child, and Alexis bought her some.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"337\"><strong>They just walked and roamed, Serena placing her faith in Alexis because he was a tried-and-true traveler, where all you needed was a backpack and the only rules were none. Alexis also sensed that this was not something Serena ever got to do as a worldwide celebrity, so much of her life being about regimen and glamorous scenes where acolytes circled like fireflies. For six hours they walked all over, the magic of the day multiplied by the city\u2019s heartbreak of beauty, which only made it more beautiful.<\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"333\">\n<h2 data-reactid=\"338\"><strong>APRIL 2016<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"339\">\n<p data-reactid=\"340\"><strong>The day of his birthday, April 24, Alexis went to the Carousel Restaurant in Little Armenia in Los Angeles with his grandparents. Serena and he FaceTimed. She was calling to say happy birthday, which might not sound like a big deal but was because she is a Jehovah\u2019s Witness and part of the religion is not to celebrate birthdays. She was doing something she normally would not do, reaching beyond, telling him on the phone how wonderful their lives together had been.<\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"339\">\n<p data-reactid=\"341\"><strong>Alexis knew then he wanted to marry her, not simply out of happiness or compatibility. She was helping him become the best version of himself because of her own work ethic and focus, with millions watching and the expectation of the public that she should win every time, what Serena herself described as carrying \u201cthree pyramids\u201d on her shoulder. He thought he worked hard\u2014it is part of the romance of high tech that everyone works 18 hours a day and then curls up under the desk for a few hours\u2019 sleep with their laptop as teddy bear and pacifier\u2014but he realized it was nothing compared with Serena.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"342\"><strong>\u201cI felt like a door had been opened to a person who made me want to be my best self. . . . I find myself just wanting to be better by simply being around her because of the standard she holds.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 data-reactid=\"343\"><strong>DECEMBER 2016<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"344\">\n<p data-reactid=\"345\"><strong>Alexis decided he would surprise Serena by proposing to her on December 10 in virtually the same spot he had first met her: the Cavalieri. It was an intricate and tactical plan, several months in the making. Serena was scheduled to play in an exhibition in India, so Jill Smoller talked her into making a stopover on the way back and spending the night at the Cavalieri. Then the exhibition was canceled. There was no reason for Serena to go to Italy. Plus, she was beginning training for the Australian Open, and when Serena gets close to a grand-slam event, practice becomes a personal Hacksaw Ridge\u2014fury, broken rackets, sometimes tears. Now going to Rome?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"346\"><strong>Alexis scrambled to enlist the help of others. Serena\u2019s executive assistant, Dakota Baynham, secretly packed her bags. Tommy Hilfiger did a major solid by scheduling a meeting at her house in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, to discuss some fashion-related items so she would be there to get picked up for the airport. Jill came to the house and told her that she had to go to Italy because Alexis wanted her there under the guise of a spontaneous trip, much like the one they had taken to Disney World a few weeks earlier.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\"347\">\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"344\">\n<p data-reactid=\"348\"><strong>Serena wasn\u2019t happy. Actually, she was livid. But after she got on the plane, she realized that he was flying her out for only one reason. \u201cI knew it was coming. I was like, \u2018Serena, you\u2019re 35, you\u2019re ready. This is what you<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> want.\u2019 \u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"349\"><strong>Alexis picked the same room they had shared a year earlier, the hotel at his instruction filling it with flowers. He took her downstairs to the same table by the pool area where they had first met. No one else was there, since the hotel, also at his instruction, had cleared everyone else out. He retold the story of how he had met her for the first time at this exact spot two years earlier. On the table was a little plastic rat.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"350\"><strong>Alexis got on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/isaidyes\/comments\/5kycyr\/i_said_yes\/\">one knee and proposed<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 data-reactid=\"351\"><strong>JANUARY 2017<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"352\">\n<p data-reactid=\"353\"><strong>Once Serena knew she was pregnant, she called Alexis and told him he needed to come to Melbourne earlier than planned. She did not give him the reason, but Alexis thought it was likely health-related and immediately got a United flight out of San Francisco. When she saw him, not a word was said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"352\">\n<p data-reactid=\"354\"><strong>She handed him a paper bag with the six positive pregnancy tests.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"355\"><strong>He was as shocked as Serena. But there wasn\u2019t time to dwell. The Australian Open was about to begin, and an immediate medical determination had to be made on what risk there might be in playing. The doctor who examined her thought she was about three or four weeks pregnant\u2014it was almost impossibly hard to tell because the fetus was so small\u2014and said there was no risk whatsoever. When Serena returned to the States and had a subsequent exam, it was discovered that she had actually been more advanced, about seven to eight weeks, but she said she still would have played. There were only five people who knew during the tournament: Alexis, Jessica, Jill, Venus, and the doctor. Not even Serena\u2019s coach knew. Nor did tournament officials.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"356\"><strong>In her earlier years Serena was all about sheer aggressiveness, playing to the strength of opponents and still beating them. She has gotten more strategic, but her game still pivots on power, a first serve that often clocks in at somewhere around 120 miles an hour and is one of the best ever in tennis. The speed is lethal, but it is complemented by a perfect technique in which she tosses the ball in the air with the same trajectory every serve so her opponent has no idea where she is aiming. Assuming her opponent can even get to the first serve, it often makes for a weak return that enables Serena to finish off a point with short, three- or four-stroke rallies that conserve strength. This obviously helps her endurance and allows her, a great three-set player, to win a match.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"357\"><strong>The Australian Open presented a new challenge that Serena had never faced before in her career. Because of the pregnancy she did not have the same endurance. She could uncharacteristically feel herself getting tired between points, particularly long ones. If a match went to three sets she knew she would lose, so she was determined to make every match two sets. She also had to deal with the Melbourne heat, which can be vicious on the court in the late afternoon: despite hating playing in the morning, Serena, because she had the option of choosing the match time in the early rounds, played as many as possible at 11 A.M.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"358\"><strong>You had to win seven matches to win the tournament.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"359\"><strong>Serena won them all in straight sets.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 data-reactid=\"360\"><strong>MAY 2017<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"361\">\n<p data-reactid=\"362\"><strong>It is a typical day in Palm Beach Gardens, the temperature in the mid-80s and enough humidity to get your attention. Serena is on the back patio, curled up on a white outdoor couch trimmed with wicker. There is none of the pouty celebrity I-would-rather-be-doing-anything-other-than-this monosyllabic slouch, nor is every answer punctuated with Sorry-I-have-to-take-this-call. There are a few moments when she pauses and talks to Chip, her beloved teacup Yorkie, who is slightly bigger than her hand, and whom she calls \u201cher son\u201d and clearly means it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"363\"><strong>She is now a little more than six months pregnant and showing, which is helping her face the reality that she is having a baby, because \u201cit just doesn\u2019t seem real. I don\u2019t know why. Am I having a baby?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"364\"><strong>\u201cIf you would have told me last year in October or November that I would have a baby, not be pregnant but have a baby, I would have thought you were the biggest liar in the world. This is kind of how I am right now. This is happening sooner than later, and it\u2019s going by so fast.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"365\"><strong>If there is no giddiness, there is no panic. Says her friend Diondria Thornton, Serena \u201cloves being pregnant.\u201d But it\u2019s not that simple. \u201cI can also see competition creeping in on her. Is this over yet? I think she\u2019s getting this itch . . . to see her intensity and her workout\u2014\u2018I have to stay fit. I have to get back on the court.\u2019 Very determined to get back on the court.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\"366\">\n<p><strong><span style=\"line-height: inherit;\">Serena says she will return to the tennis circuit as soon as January because \u201cI don\u2019t think my story is over yet.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"361\">\n<p data-reactid=\"367\"><strong>She is slowly converting one of the guest rooms of her house into the baby\u2019s room but as of May hadn\u2019t made any further preparations. \u201cI don\u2019t know what to do with a baby. I have nothing. . . . I\u2019ve done absolutely nothing for the baby room.\u201d She is more than busy: the working out, about to launch her own online fashion site, recently named to the board of SurveyMonkey, an online survey platform. She won\u2019t get to the bulk of baby paraphernalia until later in the summer, when moving around will be much harder and she will be, as she puts it, \u201cbored to tears.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"368\"><strong>Alexis, of course, is earnestly preparing and already has a tip jar he puts money into whenever he uses profanity so he won\u2019t utter it around the baby. He also wants to make sure that Chip, his future stepson, is psychologically cool with a baby in the house.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"369\">\n<article class=\"component-article-longform article-theme-a\" data-reactid=\"169\">\n<div class=\"component-article-longform__content article-content-body drop-cap\" data-reactid=\"251\">\n<section class=\"content-section\" data-reactid=\"369\">\n<p data-reactid=\"373\"><strong>The nature of it is risk, happiness and hurt in the same muscle of the heart. Maybe Serena and Alexis are too different. Maybe she won\u2019t be able to give enough when she is giving to a baby even before the marriage begins. Maybe he will feel he is making too many sacrifices in his spectacular and exciting career to accommodate Serena, since her career is even more spectacular and exciting.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"374\"><strong>Perhaps the prospect of a continued love story is as realistic as Serena\u2019s insistence that she will return to the pro tennis circuit as soon as January because \u201cI don\u2019t think my story is over yet.\u201d But if she says she will be back in January, she will be back in January. Anyone who has met Serena for more than five seconds knows that.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"375\"><strong>The marriage? How can it not thrive when the first date was six hours in Paris\u2014with no particular destination\u2014where no matter how crowded the streets and alleyways winding through the city, there was no one else except the two of you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-reactid=\"376\"><strong>Now that\u2019s a love story.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"component-content-footer main-bottom component-article-longform__footer longform\" data-reactid=\"377\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div id=\"cns_ads_1499088176156vcIH4eyblV15VpDTYhAHg7Jw9drUPy_footer_0_stage\" class=\"cns-ads-stage cns-ads-slot-type-footer cns-ads-slot-type-footer-0 cns-ads-slot-state-filled cns-ads-slot-size-728x90\" data-name=\"footer_0\" data-slot-type=\"footer\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"article-in-text-mobile-ad-container\" data-reactid=\"278\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last January, on the eve of the Australian Open, Serena Williams handed her fianc\u00e9, Alexis Ohanian, a paper bag containing six positive pregnancy tests. It was just the latest surprise in an unlikely pairing: the world\u2019s greatest tennis player and the geek co-founder of Reddit. From their first date\u2014a magical six hours in Paris\u2014to their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1314,1456,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-business-entrepreneurs","category-global-news-updates-and-more","category-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}