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Serena Williams’ Husband Alexis Ohanian: Get to Know the Reddit Cofounder
Serena Williams won the game when she found her perfect match and husband, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian. The pair met by chance while having breakfast at the same hotel in Rome in 2015. The tennis legend had never used his online platform, while the tech entrepreneur wasn’t a tennis fan. However, their love blossomed into a beautiful partnership. Keep scrolling to learn more about him and their marriage.
Who Is Serena Williams’ Husband, Alexis Ohanian?
Alexis became an internet wunderkind by starting the news and discussion platform Reddit right out of college in 2005, following his graduation from the University of Virginia. He then went on to become a prolific investor in startup companies. Alexis was named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” list in 2013 for his work in consumer technology, as the publication at the time noted that the Brooklyn native “invests in and advises more than 50 startups.”
“I thought I was the hardest-working person on the planet,” Alexis told the New York Times in a 2018 profile. “I thought we were the hardest-working industry. That’s what we tell ourselves. It’s all malarkey.”
He then went on to gush about his wife Serena, saying he’s had a “front-row seat over the last three years to greatness. It’s a humbling experience seeing really what high-pressure situations actually look like professionally, seeing just what it takes to actually be that great. It is a work ethic on another level.”
The couple’s 2015 meeting was pure serendipity. Alexis was in Rome to speak at a conference, while Serena was playing in the Italian Open. After getting to know each other over breakfast, she left him tickets to watch one of her matches. The pair fell hard for each other and soon embarked on a relationship.
When Did Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian Get Married?
Alexis showed what a true romantic he was in December 2016 when he brought Serena back to the Cavalieri Hotel in Rome. Proposing in the place they first met was a fairytale. The 23-time Grand Slam winner happily accepted, and the pair became engaged at the very table where they first laid eyes on each other. Alexis eventually relocated from Brooklyn, New York, to Serena’s home base in Palm Beach, Florida, to be with his fiancée full time.
A month later while competing in the January 2017 Australian Open, Serena discovered she was pregnant. She went on to win the Grand Slam tournament, and the couple became first-time parents on September 1, 2017, when they welcomed daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian. The couple wed in a lavish, star-studded New Orleans ceremony on November 16, 2017, in front of such celebrity pals as Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian.
What Does Alexis Ohanian Do for Work Now?
Alexis resigned from his duties at Reddit in June 2020. Even though he is still active with his work investing in companies, he’s become much more socially active since meeting Serena. Following the harrowing delivery of their daughter, Alexis stayed by the tennis champ’s side to care for his then-fiancée and their baby girl, taking a 16-week paternity leave.
“After my wife nearly died giving birth, I spent months at home caring for my family,” he told the New York Times in a 2020 article advocating the importance of paternity leave. He even took the cause of paternity leave to Capitol Hill lawmakers in 2019 for a Dad’s Day of Action on the matter.
Ever since falling for Serena, Alexis has been a constant presence at her matches, cheering her on from the stands with their daughter, Olympia, often by his side. When the tennis icon competed in the 2021 Italian Open, Alexis returned to the same hotel table where the lovebirds first met and had breakfast six years prior.
In a swoon-worthy May 2022 Instagram post, he showed a photo of the poolside table and wrote, “Every morning here in Rome I’ve come back to where my life changed forever for a cup of coffee just like I did that fateful morning. Now there’s a spunky 3-year-old with me who’s my everything. Life is unexpected & beautiful.”
The couple celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary in November 2021. In August 2022, Serena announced she was retiring from tennis to focus on “other things that are important to me.” She told Vogue at the time that one of her dreams was to grow the family she started with Alexis.
