Serena Williams welcomes second daughter, Adira River Ohanian

The tennis star announced her retirement from competitive tennis a year ago to focus on her family.

2 minBy Olympics.com
A female tennis player holds a trophy and her daughter.
(Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Tennis legend Serena Williams has given birth to her second child, a baby girl named Adira River Ohanian, on Tuesday (22 August).

This is the second child for the four-time Olympic champion USA athlete and her husband, internet entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian. Their first daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., was born in September 2017.

“Welcome, Adira River Ohanian," the baby's father wrote on his Instagram post next to the photo of the family of four. "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 returned to the tennis court in 2018, several months after her first pregnancy, and made it to the Wimbledon and the US Open finals that year as well as the following year. She holds the record of 23 grand slam women's singles titles.

In August 2022, she announced that she was stepping away from competitive tennis, penning an emotional essay in Vogue in which she explained that she wanted to focus on her family and new business projects.

"I have never liked the word retirement," Williams wrote. "It doesn't feel like a modern word to me. I've been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. 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. A few years ago I quietly started Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm. Soon after that, I started a family. I want to grow that family."

Williams had announced her second pregnancy with a body-hugging Gucci gown at the 2023 Met Gala.

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