He'd never seen a tennis match.
She'd never even heard of Reddit.
So how did Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian find love?
"How does a self-described 'unequivocal nerd' end uo with one of the greatest athletes in
recorded history?"
Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian might just be meant to be.
Back in 2015, they both happened to be in Rome for work.
Serena was in town for tennis, as she was playing in the Italian Open, and Alexis was
in Italy to speak at the Festival of Media Global conference.
"We met randomly in Rome, which is one of my favorite cities.
And it's such a romantic story."
As the two shared in a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, Serena and her friends were at
the pool one morning when Alexis chose a table right next to theirs, despite the fact that
there were plenty of empty tables around.
Serena's friends tried, and failed, to get Alexis to choose another table.
Ultimately, this led to a conversation between the two, and Serena ended up inviting Alexis
to her upcoming tennis match.
Alexis admittedly knew very little about the game, and even later unwittingly shared an
Instagram photo of Serena making a mistake at the match.
Despite his lack of tennis knowledge, they were both intrigued by one another, which
formed a foundation for their relationship.
After their first meeting in Rome, both Serena and Alexis were interested in learning more
about one another.
She was heading to France for another tournament that month, and she told Alexis that he should
consider traveling to Paris to see her play again.
As he told Vanity Fair, he wasn't sure if she was serious, but decided to take her up
on the offer.
Alexis explained that to him, the worst-case scenario would be that Serena didn't connect
with him once he arrived.
He said,
"Even if she blows me off and we don't even hang out, I'm still going to have an amazing
time in Paris, and I'll have an even better story for all my childhood friends."
The two met up before the tournament and drove to the Eiffel Tower, where Alexis bought candles
for Serena.
They ultimately spent six hours walking through the city together.
Serena and Alexis have had the opportunity to return to Paris year after year, either
for Serena to play in a tournament or to visit as a family.
In June 2021, they took their daughter Olympia along with them and shared photos of the preschooler
dressed as Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" while visiting the famous Palace of Versailles.
Serena and Alexis had a pretty major year in 2017.
Serena won the Australian Open while pregnant with their daughter, she gave birth in September,
and then the two got married in a "Beauty and the Beast"-themed wedding in November
2017.
The two invited nearly 250 people to their wedding in New Orleans, including celebrity
guests such as Beyonce and Kim Kardashian.
The wedding was also attended by Anna Wintour, and Vogue had exclusive coverage of the event.
Serena told the magazine that New Orleans was a special city for Alexis, which is why
they chose it for their wedding location.
She explained,
"It's his favorite city besides Brooklyn.
It's got a heavy European influence; it's fun and has amazing food.
He just loves the vibe."
The date of their wedding was also important.
Alexis's mother had passed away nine years prior, and Serena and Alexis chose to get
married on her birthday, November 16.
As Serena told Vogue,
"Obviously, we wish that she could be here for this, but choosing her birthday as our
wedding date was a nice way of making sure she's still involved and made us feel more
connected to her on our day."
"You know I always have your back, whether it's petty or not, and shady.
Especially if it's petty and shady, I really have your back."
In September 2021, Serena surprised fans by opening up her Instagram Stories to questions
about her relationship with her husband.
After being asked what she and Alexis like to do together when they have date nights,
Serena revealed that the answer is something a lot of us can relate to: The pair enjoy
going our for tacos together, and they agree it's something they need to do more often.
Taco night isn't the only thing that gets Serena and Alexis out of the house.
In October 2021, they each shared different photos from the same night on their own Instagram
pages.
They also stepped out together in the summer of 2022 for the premiere of "Thor: Love and
Thunder."
If there is one word that can accurately describe both Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian, it's
"busy."
Despite leaving Reddit, the social media platform he co-founded, in June 2020, Alexis has a
number of professional and personal duties and obligations around the world.
Serena, who announced her retirement from tennis in August 2022, is focused on her VC
firm, Serena Ventures, her role as a part owner of multiple teams, and her family.
With all that in mind, it's not too surprising that Serena and Alexis pull out their planners
and calendars at the beginning of each year to map out their schedules.
Alexis wrote in an essay for Glamour that it's important to the couple that they coordinate
their time, especially as they prefer to not go longer than one week at a time without
seeing one another.
It's fair to say that when they met, Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian knew very little
about the world the other inhabited.
Alexis has been open about the fact that he didn't know a lot about the sport of tennis
when he first met Serena in Rome.
In fact, he told Vanity Fair that he didn't even think much about it.
In his words, he "had no respect" for the sport.
"I was so ignorant when we first met, I had never even watched a match on television."
Alexis wasn't the only one in the dark.
While she might have pretended otherwise during that first conversation, Serena had no idea
what Reddit was.
In fact, per Vanity Fair, she lied to Alexis about having visited the site, and her friends
had to cover for her.
Despite those differences, the two began to learn about one another — and, eventually,
to fall for each other.
Serena even announced their engagement using Reddit, including posting a poem about the
night Alexis proposed.
While Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian have a marriage and relationship that many aspire
to, Alexis has been open about the fact that he's not perfect.
While speaking to Us Weekly in 2018, he explained,
"I am far from the perfect partner.
I think it's really important, especially in a long-distance marriage ... That you make
the most out of the opportunities that you have."
The comment came after it was reported that Alexis had whisked his wife away to Venice
after she said she wanted Italian food for dinner.
The Reddit co-founder sparked the story after sharing a photo on Instagram of him and his
wife on a gondola in Venice and captioned it, "She wanted Italian for dinner, so..."
Serena has also been open about the work that marriage requires.
In an interview with Bumble, she explained that the couple has made their own marital
happiness.
"Marriage is not bliss."
"But it can be if you work at it."
Alexis Ohanian has also been open about how he defines being a great partner to someone
you love.
As he told Us Weekly in July 2018, while it's nice to be able to give his wife impressive
gifts and for his family to take spontaneous trips to Europe, that isn't what matters most.
He said,
"When I think of the most romantic things I've done for my wife, I actually think they're
the times when I was just there as a father to our baby, or as a husband."
Alexis added that ultimately, he feels the best thing he can do for Serena is just be
a great partner as often as he can.
He went on to say that getting married and having a baby has changed and informed how
he sees many things in the world.
He told Us Weekly,
"I really do understand Game of Thrones a lot better now, because I really instinctively
get the idea that someone would do anything for their house.
I would do anything for my wife and child."
Serena Williams opens up about her marriage and life with Alexis Ohanian in a big way
in her five-part HBO documentary series "Being Serena."
In one episode, Serena dives into her relationship with Alexis and how different they are.
She explains in the documentary that sometimes even she doesn't understand why they work
so well, but that they just do.
She said,
"Alexis and I are completely opposite.
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."
Serena broached the topic again in an interview with The New York Times, where she admitted
that she's told her husband that their relationship might be a lot different if they were the
same race.
For one thing, they might not talk about the injustices that are perpetrated against Black
Americans so often; at the very least, they would talk about them in a different way.
The tennis star added,
"I never thought I would have married a white guy, either, so it just goes to show you that
love truly has no color, and it just really goes to show me the importance of what love
is."
Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian tend to keep their relationship out of the spotlight,
but her degree of fame around the world often means there are plenty of people who want
to know as much as possible about her professional and personal life.
From time to time, one or both will open up about what keeps their marriage going strong.
In January 2019, when she was interviewed by Allure, Serena said that Alexis enthusiastically
allows her to shine.
She explained,
"Oprah said, 'Never let anyone dim your light.'
That really stuck with me.
Alexis doesn't dim my light.
He doesn't try to dim my light.
He puts me in the light, even if I don't want to be."
Serena went on to add that Alexis helps her reach places she had never previously considered,
and that she was always aware of the fact that her past relationships resulted in a
dimming of her own light.
The fact that this is important to Serena is no surprise.
As one of the world's most celebrated athletes and truly one of the greatest of all time,
Serena still has a lot of shining left to do — and it seems Alexis is the person who
can help her do just that.