Serena announces engagement
new york — Court and spark: Serena Williams is tying the knot. The tennis great announced her engagement to Alexis Ohanian on Thursday, posting a poem on Reddit that she accepted the proposal of the social news website’s co-founder.
Williams’ agent, Jill Smoller, confirmed the engagement in an email to the media.
Ohanian wrote on his Facebook page, “She said yes.”
Williams, 35, has been dating Ohanian, 33, for over a year. Her poem: “I came home/A little late/ Someone had a bag packed for me/And a carriage awaited/ Destination: Rome/To escort me to my very own “charming”/ Back to where our stars first collided/And now it was full circle/ At the same table we first met by chance/This time he made it not by chance/But by choice/Down on one knee/He said 4 words/ And I said yes.”
Williams in July won Wimbledon for the seventh time to tie Steffi Graf ’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles. In September she passed Roger Federer for most all-time Grand Slam match victories, winning her 308th in the US Open.
No wedding date has been announced.
Serena touched down in Auckland on Friday and quickly made her way to the court to hit some balls ahead of the start of her 2017 season.
“It’s fun to go to new places,” the world number two said.
Serena’s older sister Venus is also competing in Auckland, an event she won in 2015, and said she was delighted to hear about her sibling’s engagement.
Serena said it was unlikely the duo would team up to play in New Zealand.