Serena Williams

Serena Williams is an American female tennis player and regarded by many tennis enthusiasts as the greatest tennis player of all time. She is the sister of Venus Williams, also one of the most prolific tennis players in the present day. Both Serena and elder sister Venus paved way for the golden era of women’s professional tennis in the modern times. [1]

Serena was born on September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. Her zodiac sign is Libra, and her middle name is Jameka.

Serena Williams – Religious Beliefs

Serena Williams and her sisters grew up to be Jehovah’s Witnesses, but she is considered an “inactive” member of the organization, given the fact that she is not officially baptized as a Witness. Still, Serena often acknowledges Jehovah in most of her matches. (1)

Getting pregnant outside marriage is against their teachings of the Witnesses and can be a ground for dis-fellowship for Serena, who got pregnant with her first-born in 2017. (2) On the contrary, many believed that Williams cannot be dis-fellowshipped from the religious organization unless she is baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Serena Williams – Political Beliefs

Serena Williams is a Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Witnesses are actually discouraged to participate in any nationalistic activities including voting. According to Serena herself, she does not vote due to her religious beliefs: “I don’t vote. It goes back to my religion.” (3)

However, Serena once said that if she was given the chance to vote, she would have voted for Obama when he ran for Presidency. As for the last US Presidential Election, she did not specify which candidate she would have supported and reiterated her neutral stand when it comes to political issues. (3)

Serena Williams – Personal Relationships

Aside from her sister Venus, Serena has three half-sisters from her maternal side, and three half-brothers and three half-sisters from her paternal side. (4)

In 2017, Williams married Reddit co-founder and executive chairman, Alexis Ohanian. They are the parents to a daughter named Alexis Olympia.

Surprisingly, Williams has said that she never expected to get married nor have a baby.

“Alexis and I are completely opposite,” she said in her five-part HBO series that aired in 2018. “I’m an athlete. He’s a business guy. I’m black. He’s white. We’re total opposites. I don’t know why we’re such a good fit. I think we just complement each other. I think we understand hard work in different ways.” (5)

Prior to her marriage with Ohanian, Serena had reportedly dated several men, including tennis pro Grigor Dimitrov, NBA player
Amar’e Stoudamire, rapper Common, actor Colin Firth, and director and producer Brett Ratner. (5)

Serena Williams – Medical Issues

The tennis pro has shared about the post-partum complications she experienced upon giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia, which nearly compromised her life. (6)

According to Serena, she wanted to have a normal delivery. Her doctor advised Serena to deliver the baby via c-section upon learning that the baby’s heart rate was in a compromising situation. To further complicate matters Serena admitted dreading the thought of having a c-section scar.

Williams also revealed that she underwent surgery after her c-section wound reopened following a bad coughing spell and breathing trouble. Her doctors then found blood clots in one of her lungs, which led to the decision to undergo immediate surgery.

Apparently, Williams suffered from blood issues in the past. She would spend the next six weeks bedridden post-surgery. Despite
of what happened; Serena Williams enjoys her new status as a new mom and wife, and has since returned to the tennis court after months of maternal leave.

Sources:

1: Huffington Post

2: Quora

3: The Hollywood Reporter

4: Wikipedia

5: The New York Post

6: People

Photo by Steve Jurvetson. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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