How Serena Williams rewrote the playbook for female athletes juggling motherhood and sport
Serena Williams is a legend in her sport, a figurehead for the women who have followed in her footsteps. And as a model for how we can all rework the way we do business, she is perhaps the best-known player of recent years.
But over the past few weeks, Serena has been in the news for something quite different: raising her 7-year-old daughter, Alexis Olympia, from the hospital.
Serena, 29, gave birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia, at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London during a two-day stay on September 15. She is not yet back at her home in Florida. The newborn and her 2-year-old sister, Olympia, are currently staying with Serena’s family in California. Alexis Olympia and her mother returned to live with Serena and her three sisters in Los Angeles, California, while their grandmother lives in Virginia.
As the mother and father of the most famous sports baby in the world, Serena could be forgiven for being in denial about her child’s birth. It’s just that the child she had to bear was so precious that she couldn’t quite believe it.
Here is how she dealt with the birth – and how she has spent the subsequent few weeks adapting to new life at home.
Dealing with the birth: ‘There was a long, long road to get here’
Serena was supposed to compete in the Australian Open this month. The tournament, which begins on October 22, has a reputation for being one of the most difficult tournaments. She was scheduled to play the first day, and she was scheduled to play on the Tuesday, but a hip injury prevented her from playing at the tournament.
Instead, she was presented with the opportunity to help her team at the U.S. Open win a major – the tournament in which she was the world No.1. And she accepted.
In a press release on Monday, Serena expressed
