Australia’s coronavirus cases are so low that the country is able to live life a lot more normally than most of the world, including hosting tennis tournaments. In Adelaide today, Serena Williams participated in the A Day at the Drive tournament. Williams beat Naomi Osaska in their women’s singles match, 6-2 2-6 [10-7].
And in the crowd, her three-year-old daughter Olympia Ohanian was watching and cheering for her mom alongside her dad and Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian. Olympia was impeccably dressed for the match, wearing a light blue summer dress with two matching bows in her hair. She finished the look off with white sneakers.
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Williams expressed gratitude to be able to play in Australia and for things to be safe enough that a crowd of 4,000 people could watch.
In the Australian Open’s article on the tournament, Williams said after her match, “Honestly, we haven’t played in front a crowd in over a year. So this is really cool. And then for having us, and trusting us with your laws, was great—we were so happy just to be here, and now it’s worth it.”
Williams told Stephen Colbert earlier this week about the super strict 14-day quarantine she went through in order to play tennis in Adelaide today. “It’s super, super strict, but it’s really good,” she told Colbert. “The last I heard they had zero cases of COVID. So that is unbelievable, right, in the whole country? So that is really amazing. So, when we come here in Australia, everyone has to quarantine in a room for 14 days. And it’s insane and super intense but it’s super good because after that you can have a new normal like what we were used to last time this year in the United States. So they’re doing it right. It’s definitely hard with a three-year-old to be in the hotel the entire day, but it’s worth it because you want everyone to be safe at the end of the day.”
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Olympia is also starting to play tennis now, by the way. Williams shared a photo on her Instagram of Olympia on the court, learning how to play the game. “Turn, back, reach, head, follow through,” she captioned the shot from January 12.
Williams spoke to Colbert about Olympia’s skills and why she hadn’t wanted her daughter to take up tennis initially.
“She’s a perfectionist on the court,” Williams said. “Not quite sure where she got that from, but yeah. You know what? I never thought I would let my daughter play tennis but then I was just like, during the pandemic, it was the only thing that we could do safely and so I was like, tennis it is.”
She explained she didn’t want her daughter to play tennis initially because “it’s all consuming, it’s stressful, it’s a lot of work. It’s a huge commitment and it might be a little dab of pressure on her so I wouldn’t naturally put her in it but if that was something she wanted to do, I would absolutely be like, ‘oh my god, you should totally do that’ and I would be rooting for her and supporting her but it wouldn’t be the first thing that I would do.”
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