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Demonstrating that talent runs in the family, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, daughter of Serena Williams, has taken to the courts, and she has the potential to be a great player, her proud mom says.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion revealed she's had to anonymously sign up her four-year-old daughter for tennis lessons, admitting she doesn’t make the best teacher.
“I don’t have the patience to teach tennis. It’s so weird but I don’t really like to play with people who don’t know how to play tennis well; it drives me nuts. So, I signed her up for a class, a private teacher. She came in, I didn’t wanna tell her,” she told Ellen DeGeneres.
While she’d love for Olympia to follow in her steps, Serena isn't obsessive about it, “I don’t push her because she’s four . . . she’s alright. I’ve seen four-year-olds that might take her out on the court.
“Her ambition is playing princess games. She loves princess games and the more we can play anything with princesses, that’s her whole life,” she said of Olympia, who's her only her child.
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Meanwhile, the athlete (40), who hasn't played a competitive match since suffering a hamstring injury at Wimbledon last June, has received yet another award.
The former world No 1 joins several other famous athletes who've had buildings named after them at the Nike World Headquarters in Oregon, USA.
She joins icons such as LeBron James, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm and Tiger Woods, all of whom have been honoured by Nike over the years.
The Serena Williams Building is the biggest one on the campus. It houses world-class labs for product testing and development, showrooms, workspaces and more.
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It also includes a 140-seat Olympia Theater, named after Serena’s daughter, and an outdoor tennis court dubbed the East Compton Hills Country Club – a nod to the Williams family joke of jokingly calling their local Compton courts a country club.
White roses, Serena’s favourite flowers, are planted throughout the main plaza.
“The whole building takes your breath away. Every element, everywhere you go, is an opportunity to be inspired,” Serena said in a statement.
“I hope this building encourages people to bring out the best of themselves and to dream bigger than they thought possible.”
Sources: dailymail.co.uk, sportingnews.com, etcanada.com, tennis.com, people.com, Instagram.com
