7 Years After Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian’s Engagement, Close Aide Reveals Concealed Effort Behind His Grand Proposal

Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian are one of the most adorable couples in town. Their story dates back to May 2015 when they first met in Rome. Strangers back then, their eyes caught each other and Serena invited Alexis to join her and her friends at breakfast. They struck an immediate bond and the Reddit co-founder wasn’t even a tennis fan before meeting Williams started attending matches to cheer for her. A year later, he planned a grand proposal to Serena.

Recently, a close aide of the couple, Lissie Garvin, 776 Foundation and Fellowship director, expressed how she had an integral role to play in their relationship and how Alexis Ohanian put in sweat to make the proposal a memorable one.

Short adorable story behind Alexis Ohanian’s proposal to Serena Williams

The Reddit co-founder wanted it to be special and one that Serena could cherish for her entire life. Hence, he, along with Garvin, put in great effort to make it a memorable event. Alexis put a lot of thought into his proposal to the former WTA Queen, a tactical one that took several months of strategic coordinating. Lissie knew he typically stole away 30 minutes during the day to FaceTime his then-long-distance girlfriend, Serena Williams, so she began blocking time on his calendar to make sure he could.

What was special was the place of the proposal. The venue of the grand proposal was the same place where the two first met in 2015 in Rome at the Cavalieri Hotel.

It was Garvin who organized their engagement trip to Rome in 2016 when Alexis decided to propose to Serena. Later, she was there to capture the big moment of him proposing to the tennis legend. Recalling that moment, Garvin said, “I was literally, like, in the bushes.”

Garvin first interviewed for an executive assistant role at Ohanian’s social media company, Reddit. However, Ohanian told Garvin that she would be working for his co-founder, Steve Huffman. Nonetheless, the two ended up working exclusively together and Garvin had a major part to play in Ohanian’s relationship with Serena Williams.

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Alexis Ohanian’s grand proposal would’ve made any girl in the world happy. However, Serena Williams was left angry following his proposal due to a bizarre reason. Let’s find out!

Why was Serena Williams angry at Alexis Ohanian’s proposal?

Alexis Ohanian took Serena Williams on a trip to Rome in December 2016 for the surprise proposal. Serena Williams joked that she didn’t know that nerdy guys were her type and she revealed why her engagement came at an inconvenient time. However, Williams was in the middle of her training season and was aiming to perform big at the Australian Open the following year.

Recalling why she was angry with Ohanian’s proposal, Serena Williams once said, “In fact, when he proposed, I was almost angry. Not almost, I was angry because it was right in the middle of my training season. I was like, I’ve got to win the Australian Open. I can’t fly to Rome because he wanted to take me to Rome.”

Nonetheless, that proposal remains one of the special moments in Serena Williams’ life which she would cherish throughout. Eventually, it didn’t affect her performance at the Australian Open, as she went on to win the title Down Under.

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