Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian have welcomed their second daughter, Adira River Ohanian.
The retired tennis player posted a video on TikTok, showing her holding her new baby, next to her husband and other daughter, Olympia. She wrote “welcome my beautiful angel”.
@serena Welcome my beautiful angel
♬ original sound – Serenawilliams
Ohanian also shared the news, writing: “Welcome, Adira River Ohanian.”
“I’m grateful to report our house is teaming with love: a happy & healthy newborn girl and happy & healthy mama. Feeling grateful.
“@serenawilliams you’ve now given me another incomparable gift — you’re the GMOAT. Thanks to all the amazing medical staff who took care of my wife & our daughter.
“I’ll never forget the moment I introduced @olympiaohanian to her baby sister.”
Williams, a 23-time grand slam winner, is nearing the one-year anniversary of her retirement from professional tennis. Her last grand slam was the US Open in 2022. In August of that year, Williams announced she would “evolve” away from tennis.
“I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me,” Wiliams wrote in Vogue at the time. “Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
“I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family.”
Ohanian, a tech entrepreneur, has previously been vocal about the benefits of fathers taking parental leave. He famously took 16 weeks of parental leave when Olympia was born, and has written about why dads should consider taking parental leave if they have it available to them.
“The implication that paternity leave is unimportant sets a dangerous precedent, one that suggests fathers are not an integral part of the child care unit, and perpetuates the antiquated belief that mothers alone should be the primary caregivers,” Ohanian wrote in an essay in 2020.
“Worse, explicitly (or implicitly) telling a male employee that they’re less of a man for taking time to be with their family after their child’s birth is as stupid as it is outdated. Showing up is exactly what fathers should be doing for their families.”