Serena Williams Teaches Daughter Olympia Tennis in Adorable Videos

auckland, new zealand january 12 serena williams of the usa celebrates with daughter alexis olympia after winning the final match against jessica pegula of usa at asb tennis centre on january 12, 2020 in auckland, new zealand photo by hannah petersgetty images

(Image credit: Hannah Peters)

published 18 June 21

Serena Williams adorably gives daughter Olympia a tennis lesson in a series of Instagram videos posted Thursday.
Williams guides Olympia through a warmup, before coaching her through some drills.
These might just be the cutest videos you watch all day/week/month.

It looks like Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr. might be the next star of the Williams tennis dynasty! Mom Serena Williams posted a series of extremely cute Instagram videos Thursday, in which she coaches her daughter on the court. And I really cannot stress enough how sweet they are!

In the first video, Williams guides her daughter through a warmup, while in the second, she coaches her through a series of forehand drills (in one, she tells her daughter to imagine the balls are cupcakes). "Baby champion!" Williams says as Olympia nails the drill.

In the third video, the GOAT passes on some advice from her father, tennis coach Richard Williams. "You know what Grandpa taught me?" she tells Olympia, before demonstrating for her daughter. "First thing you do is turn. Back, reach, hand, follow-through. That's very complicated for a 3-year-old, but you might get it."

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Williams introduced Olympia to the sport in 2020, while the U.S. was in lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "She's a perfectionist on the court. I'm not quite sure where she got that from, but yeah, she loves it," she told Stephen Colbert in January. "I never thought I would let my daughter play tennis, but then during this pandemic, it was the only thing that we could do safely so I'm like, well, tennis it is."

The GOAT went on to explain why she wasn't initially thrilled at the prospect of Olympia playing tennis, while stressing that she'd support her daughter all the way should she develop a love for the sport (and by the looks of things, she has!) "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," Williams said.

"I wouldn't naturally put her in it, but if that was something that she wanted to do, I would absolutely be like, 'Oh my gosh, you should totally do that,'" Williams continued. "And I'd be rooting for her and supporting her, but it wouldn't be the first thing that I would do."

Emily Dixon

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.