The couple are already parents to daughter, Olympia, 5.
Serena Williams is having a girl!
The Grand Slam winner and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, revealed the big news in a video on Williams' YouTube channel. The video chronicles the moments leading up to the couple finding out the sex of baby No. 2 as well as Williams sharing her wishes about having another daughter.
The "our next great adventure" reveal party came complete with multicolored balloons, and a special "splash village" for their 5-year-old daughter, Olympia.
Williams, 41, and Ohanian, 40, celebrated with family and friends -- including Williams' famous sister, Venus and father, Richard -- and dined out on cake and other treats as they awaited the big reveal.
The couple waited until nightfall to find out the sex of their baby, but the reveal didn't come without a trick from Ohanian first. The tech entrepreneur had Williams cut out a cake meant to reveal the baby's sex, only for it to be filled with plain yellow cake inside.
The actual reveal was far more spectacular and included a light show and some music from DJ Mike Wise. The couple and all their guests looked up at the sky for the real answer, which after flashing both blue and pink lights spelled out the words, "GIRL!"
Williams, Ohanian and Olympia were all overjoyed by the outcome, screaming and jumping up in excitement over the news.
The couple shared they were expecting their second child as they walked the carpet at the 2023 Met Gala earlier this year. That same month, the former tennis champion posted the moment when she and Ohanian shared the news with their daughter that she was getting a promotion to big sister.
"Remember how you've been praying for a little sister or brother? Well, we went to the doctor and it turns out I'm not getting fat. But I have a baby in my belly," Williams said, to which Olympia promptly asks excitedly, "Are you kidding me?!"
Prior to the release of the video, Williams shared why she and her husband kept their news from their daughter.
"Olympia does not know right now that I am pregnant, so the big reveal will be at the Met and then before we leave, I'll tell Olympia," Williams explained in an Instagram video. "The reason I haven't told her is because she can't keep a secret!"
Williams has been incredibly open about wanting another child since giving birth to Olympia in 2017.
In Vogue's September 2022 issue, in which she announced her intention to retire from professional tennis, Williams detailed how her daughter prays for a baby sister and often says she wants to be a big sister -- something Williams and Ohanian had been planning for.
"In the last year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child, and we recently got some information from my doctor that put my mind at ease and made me feel that whenever we’re ready, we can add to our family," she said. "I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out."
And after everything she's been through, Williams said she was ready to take both feet off the court.
"The way I see it, I should have had 30-plus grand slams. I had my chances after coming back from giving birth. I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a grand slam final," she candidly recalled. "I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. I didn’t show up the way I should have or could have. But I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually, it’s extraordinary. But these days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter."
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