Serena Williams gave birth to her second daughter on Tuesday, according to her husband, who added that both were “happy & healthy” after the tennis star’s first child’s harrowing birth left her fighting for her life.
“I’m grateful to report that our house is teaming with love: a happy & healthy newborn girl and happy & healthy mama,” her husband, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, posted on Instagram alongside a photograph of himself with a beaming Williams hugging both her daughters.
Addressing his 41-year-old wife, he told her she had “given me another incomparable gift — you’re the GMOAT,” a new maternal twist on the sporting accolade Greatest Of All Time.
While pregnant with the couple’s first child, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., Williams, one of the best players in history, won the Australian Open, one of her many Grand Slam wins, in 2017.
However, she nearly died months later after giving birth to Olympia by emergency C-section due to a blood clot in her lung.
She was bedridden for six weeks following the pulmonary embolism, but she battled back to compete in Fed Cup doubles with her sister, Venus, just five months later.
Williams retired from tennis last year after becoming a superstar for a generation.
“I’m ready to be a mom and explore a different version of myself,” she said after her final match last year.