‘Saying Hateful, Hurtful Things’ – Alexis Ohanian Reveals How Serena Williams’ Endurance to Injustice Revolutionized Tennis

Serena Williams has been a trailblazer in more ways than one for not just the women in the tennis community but in all walks of life. While the former world number 1 retired recently, her path to the top of the tennis world had not been easy. Facing criticism and racism for the better part of her career, Serena has always stood tall and faced everything with admirable endurance.

The 41-year-old claimed a remarkable 23 grand slam titles and other laurels in the sport that was once seen for whites only. She turned out to be a symbol for women’s tennis and one of the greatest players of all time. 

Alexis Ohanian talks about Williams’ struggles

Recently, in an interview, Williams‘ husband Alexis Ohanian talked about the difficulties she has faced in her career. He said, “I think there was some I hope a little bit of justice knowing what she had to endure at the start of her career when the crowds were not cheering for her, when they were saying hateful, hurtful, awful things.”

He also recalled an incident from the Indian Wells, in which the former world number one faced problems with the line judge who was against her even though she deserved the point and how strongly she put her point forward knowing those were the right calls.

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Further, he talked about how great it felt to see the crowd cheering for her and supporting her, the same way she deserved at the beginning of her career.

He said, “I feel like in a little way, it was the universe; showing to her just how much she met and to have a crowd that was so much behind her and really the exact opposite of what so many of those crowds and some of those environments were like for so long for her. Yeah, I hope there was some part of that‌ landed with her.”

Serena Williams’ remarkable career

Numbers are not enough to justify the tennis legend’s career. The American has a total of 73 singles titles. Not only on tour, but she has also won four gold medals in the Olympics. For 319 weeks, she had the top WTA ranking.

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Not Serena Williams’ fans but everyone who loves tennis will surely miss her on the tennis court.