Serena Williams and her daughter just made history on the cover of “Vogue”
Serena Williams and her infant daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. are both on the cover of Vogue for the February 2018 issue, and according to Vogue‘s Instagram caption, Williams’ daughter “is our youngest cover star to date.” In the interview, the tennis champ was incredibly generous with her thoughts on motherhood and opened up about her complicated feelings on having a career and being a mom.
“To be honest, there’s something really attractive about the idea of moving to San Francisco and just being a mom,” she said of moving to Silicon Valley where her husband works at Reddit. “But not yet. Maybe this goes without saying, but it needs to be said in a powerful way: I absolutely want more Grand Slams. I’m well aware of the record books, unfortunately. It’s not a secret that I have my sights on 25 [Grand Slams].”
Even as she weighs the pros and cons of being a stay-at-home mom, she later goes on to describe how having a baby is also the best thing that has happened to her tennis-related anxiety. As always, we appreciate Williams’ candor on the very real mental gymnastics that women do when we feel pulled between our jobs and our children.
“I think having a baby might help [my game]. When I’m too anxious I lose matches, and I feel like a lot of that anxiety disappeared when Olympia was born. Knowing I’ve got this beautiful baby to go home to makes me feel like I don’t have to play another match. I don’t need the money or the titles or the prestige. I want them, but I don’t need them. That’s a different feeling for me,” Williams told Vogue.
A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine) on Jan 10, 2018 at 5:02am PST
A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine) on Jan 10, 2018 at 10:19am PST
Serena’s husband Alexis Ohanian made it into the pages of the magazine for her cover spread, as well as in this total #couplegoals shot.
Dance partner for life. @voguemagazine @mariotestino
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(@alexisohanian) on Jan 10, 2018 at 1:42pm PST
Serena also did the #LemonDanceChallenge for Vogue, which is basically just when you dance to Rihanna and N.E.R.D’s song “Lemon.” Williams’ video caught the attention of Rih herself who said, “woke up to a champ brightening my day like….. @serenawilliams this song just got better thanks to you girl.”
A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine) on Jan 10, 2018 at 5:32am PST
But our favorite part of the interview is this little nugget about the power of raising a daughter:
“I think sometimes women limit themselves. I’m not sure why we think that way, but I know that we’re sometimes taught to not dream as big as men, not to believe we can be a president or a CEO, when in the same household, a male child is told he can be anything he wants,” Williams said. “I’m so glad I had a daughter. I want to teach her that there are no limits.”
