Serena Williams Just Played Her First Tennis Match Since Giving Birth
And her husband Alexis Ohanian couldn't be prouder.
Serena Williams has had an eventful time in 2017. Not only did she get married to Alexis Ohanian, she also gave birth to their daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr. But as 2017 isn't over quite yet, Williams decided to finish off the year by playing in her first tennis match since giving birth. And husband Ohanian couldn't have been prouder.
Williams announced her pregnancy in April 2017, having won the Australian Open in January 2017 while pregnant. The tennis superstar gave birth to her baby girl in September, got married in November, and has returned to the tennis court in December. In the sweetest post, husband Ohanian shared a photo of his wife at the match, with the caption, "Mama is back in the office."
Williams lost the game to French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, while playing at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi. However, Williams was incredibly excited to be "back in the office," and told the Associated Press, "I don’t know if I am totally ready to come back on the tour yet. I know that when I come back I definitely want to be competing for championships."
And as for making her return to tennis after some time out, Williams said, "I have plenty of comebacks, from injuries, from surgeries, but I’ve never had a comeback after actually giving birth to a human being. So, in my eyes, I feel it was a wonderful, wonderful match for me."
Williams ended 2017 with yet another achievement, and it sounds as though 2018 is going to be another exciting year for the champion.
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Amy Mackelden is the weekend editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.