Serena Williams Steps Out for First Red Carpet Appearance 10 Weeks After Birth of Daughter

Serena Williams, a 2009 Glamour Women of the Year winner, has a select few people she’d leave her daughter for — and that short list includes fellow Woman of the Year honoree Gigi Hadid.

The tennis star and new mom to 10-week-old daughter Alexis Olympia presented Hadid with the Supernova Award at the 2017 Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York City on Monday. The star-studded event marked Williams’ first post-baby red carpet appearance since welcoming her first child with fiancé Alexis Ohanian in September.

“Gigi, you are one of the few people on this planet I would leave my baby for — for one night — but for you, it shows how much you mean to me. And I want you to imagine the effect you have on the world,” the mother of one, 36, said before giving the award to the 22-year-old supermodel.

Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter.

Williams also paid some style homage to the honoree by wearing the sleeveless black and gold Versace dress that Hadid modeled during the Spring 2018 ready-to-wear collection during Milan Fashion Week.

“Since I’ve known Gigi Hadid since she was a kid, she’s always been a woman with goals. Not only beautiful on the outside but totally stunning most importantly on the inside,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion also said during her presenter’s speech. “She understands in order to be the best you have to think like you are the best. You have to work the hardest and you have to make sacrifices.”

Adding, “She’s inspirational to me and she’s inspirational to all women. Most of all she is my friend. When I see her I sometimes still see that blushing kid with big dreams and big hopes.”

My mommy loves Snapchat

A post shared by Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr. (@olympiaohanian) on Oct 14, 2017 at 9:48am PDT

While Tuesday marked her first public appearance since baby, Williams recently celebrated her upcoming nuptials to Ohanian — who proposed to her in December 2016 — by throwing a luxurious girls’ weekend in New York City, which included five-star spa treatments, trapeze-ing, tea brunches, and dancing out on the town with famous friends Lala Anthony and Ciara as well as sister Venus Williams.