Serena Williams has revealed her 5-year-old daughter, Olympia, “doesn’t actually like to play tennis too much,” the global superstar said during a new interview.
“That’s a little disappointing for me, but she’s actually really good at it,” Williams said while appearing on CBS News’ “Person to Person with Norah O’Donnell” this week, PEOPLE reports. “So we are trying to figure out a way to get her to play a little bit.”
Serena Williams of USA celebrates with daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., after winning the final match against Jessica Pegula of USA at ASB Tennis Centre on Jan. 12, 2020, in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Williams later said, “Maybe I can push her into tennis by getting other kids to have a group lesson, I think that’s what I’m gonna do.”
The 41-year-old shares Olympia with her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. She announced her retirement in August and later revealed on “The Drew Barrymore Show” why she did not allow her daughter to attend most of her matches, People reported.
“Well, I just was worried I’d get distracted because I would be like, ‘Wait, is she drinking? Is she doing this?’ She came to a match once, like super brief, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, is she wearing sun cream?’ It’s nuts,” Williams explained to Barrymore, before adding, “I would get stressed out.”
When the tennis icon appeared on the PEOPLE Every Day podcast in December, she said Olympia is “very aware” that her famous mother has a ton of extra free time now that she has stepped away from the sport.
“I’m always like, ‘Olympia, I’m not working now.’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, you don’t play tennis!’ She’s like, ‘Yes!’ And I don’t really quite know how to feel about that,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion said.
Williams previously explained to PEOPLE that she signed Olympia up for tennis lessons amid the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.
“Honestly, we started because it’s a socially safe sport, and when COVID happened, it was like, we’re just in the house with a 3-year-old, what do we do?” Williams said. “There was only one answer, to my dismay.”
Williams’ daughter became the youngest sports team owner at just three years old when it was announced in 2021 that the child and her parents were shareholders of Los Angeles’ Angel City FC soccer, GMA reported.
TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!
