Serena Williams shares emotional moment with daughter Olympia after major setback

Serena Williams paid tribute to her eldest daughter, Olympia Ohanian, after exiting the first round of the Cincinnati Open amid her major comeback. The 44-year-old shared a sweet photo on social media of her hugging eight-year-old Olympia, whom Serena welcomed with her husband, Alexis Ohanian.

In the snap, Serena wore a purple sweatsuit and had her brunette tresses tied back into a ponytail, while Olympia sported a pink T-shirt and a pink jacket as she embraced her mom.

“Sometimes all I need is her hug,” the tennis icon wrote in the caption, as fans rushed to the comment section to share the love. 

“Even the G.O.A.T. has a soft center…woman does it all and still shows up as the world’s strongest mom,” one wrote, while another added: “Awww best mom ever.” A third chimed in: “Pure sweetness in a pic,” while another said: “Awww! That is so beautiful.” 

Nurturing her talents

© Instagram

Olympia’s father, Alexis, shared insight into her many talents with People. “I do think she’s a mix of both creative and athletic right now. Mini golf was her thing a year or so ago, and then we got her proper golfing lessons, and she’s loved it,” he explained. 

“On the creative side, she loves to dance. Maybe that’s where she’ll land – somewhere in the creative end and athletic.”

See more of Serena’s family below…

“Like any parent, we just want her to have fun, and we’re fortunate enough to be able to expose her to anything she could be interested in,” the Reddit co-founder added.

Olympia’s sisterly love

Serena and Alexis also share a daughter, Adira, who recently turned three. Olympia is an incredible older sister, as the athlete said on Today with Jenna and Sheinelle. “Olympia is so sweet,” she said. “She’s the best big sister! And then the little one, Adira, she’s feisty, but she’s nice.”

“I’m the youngest, so I always have to make sure that I’m not being, you know, not necessarily favorites, but being too nice,” she added. “[I’m like] ‘Let her have it! Let her do it!’ Because Olympia will be like, ‘No!’ And I’m like, ‘No, let her do it!'”

Serena’s major comeback

Serena made a triumphant return to competitive tennis in June 2026 after almost four years away from the sport. 

© Getty Images

She competed at the Queen’s Club Championships in June, and made her singles comeback at Wimbledon before being forced to exit the match due to a knee injury.

At Cincinnati, Serena teamed up with her sister, Venus Williams, for their first doubles match since 2022. The pair were beaten by Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns, but were happy to be competing together again after several years off.

© Getty Images

“I thought it was fun, I thought it was special, I thought it was good,” Serena told the media after the match. 

“We kicked off a little rust in the middle of the match. We were starting to feel it, and it was really fun. It was really cool to be able to do this again.”