Serena Williams reveals why she never brought daughter Olympia to her tennis matches: 'I would get stressed out'
By Merryn Porter |
Mums know how hard it can be to concentrate on work when our children are around, and it seems tennis superstars are no exception.
Recently retired tennis great Serena Williams has revealed why her daughter Olympia was rarely in the stands at her matches, and the reason is surprisingly relatable.
Williams, 40, was a guest on Drew Barrymore's talk show in the US overnight when attention turned to the subject of the four-year-old she shares with husband Alexis Ohanian.
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Barrymore asked Williams if it was true that she didn't want Olympia at her matches because she was afraid she would lose her 'killer instinct.'
But according to Williams, the real reason was much simpler.? "I just was worried I'd get distracted because I would be like, 'Wait is she drinking? Is she doing this?'" Williams replied.
"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 added that worrying about her daughter took her mind off the game.
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"I would get stressed out and be like 'Wait a minute, oh my goodness, I've got to serve. This makes no sense.'
"So yeah, I've never really had her at matches until this summer actually."
Olympia was in the stands when her mother played in her final US Open in August this year, closing out a 27-year professional tennis career.
She even wore a matching outfit to her tennis star mum to cheer her on.
"Apparently she was saying like, 'Go Mumma, I'm so proud of you,'" Williams said.
Her daughter was also there to lift her spirits when things didn't go so well.?
"After I had lost in Cincinnati, she came back and she's like, 'It's okay, Mumma, you just have to do what you feel' and I literally wanted to cry. It was like, 'Do what you feel. Do what your heart tells you.' It was the sweetest thing ever."
Williams has made no secret of the fact her daughter comes first, recently taking to an episode of Meghan Markle's podcast Archetypes to admit she won a match at the French Open in 2018 after a sleepless night with her daughter, who had fallen from a highchair and broken her wrist.
"I had a match the next day and that night, she fell out of her highchair and broke her wrist," Williams said
"And she was on my watch. And I was just basically devastated. Like, I literally couldn't think. I felt so guilty.
"We went to the hospital and she had a small ... break in her wrist, so she had to get a cast and we didn't get back 'til like four in the morning.
"I remember holding her the whole night and just like rocking her to sleep and I just didn't let her out of my sight.
"But I was so mad at myself for even allowing that to happen. So I think I got like 30 minutes of sleep and then I had to go play this match.
"I somehow managed to win, but I was so emotionally spent and just like so emotionally drained that it was, it was crazy.
"And, you know, and then like every night after that, I just was with her the whole time and was like you're going to be with me."
Williams announced in August that she was stepping away from tennis after the US Open to concentrate on her family and business interests.
"I really want to expand my family. And, you know, I've been putting it off for so long. And as a woman, there's only so, so long you can put that off," she said
Williams won 23 grand slam titles during her career กช one short of Australian Margaret Court's all-time record.
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