The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
In free verse on Reddit, Serena Williams confirms engagement to site’s co-founder
STARTED DATING LAST FALL, WEDDING DATE NOT FIXED YET
“WHO THE Heck Is Alexis Ohanian, and Why Would Serena Williams Want to Date Him?” Slate magazine asked in a headline last year.
Ohanian is a co-founder of Reddit, and, as of Friday, Williams not only wants to date him, but plans to marry him.
Williams, the tennis superstar, announced her engagement to Ohanian on Reddit, the websitethatclaimsthelabel“thefrontpageof the Internet”.
Theredditpostfeaturedadrawingofsnoo, the site’s mascot, dressed as Ohanian and kneeling with a diamond in its hand. A female Snoo, styled after Williams and wearing a tennisskirt,niketopandheadband,floatedabove him with a smile on her face.
Abovethepicturewastheheadline,“future Mrs. Kn0thing.” It was a nod to the site and its community: Ohanian has long gone by the handle Kn0thing.
In free verse, Williams, whose account is verified on the site, described the proposal on the “isaidyes” subreddit, which is dedicated to engagement stories.
“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 hemadeitnotbychance/butbychoice/down on one knee/ He said 4 words / And / r/isaidyes.”
Ohanianchimedininthecomments:“and youmademethehappiestmanontheplanet.”
A spokeswoman for Williams, Kelly Bush Novak, said that a wedding date has not been set. Williams and Ohanian had known each otherforsometimebeforetheystarteddating last fall, she said.
Williams, 35, is one of the greatest Americanathletesactivetoday,andisthehighest-paid female athlete in the world. She won her first Grand Slam singles title at 17 in 1999, and this year won her 22nd. She has spent more than 300 weeks at No 1; a recent run of 186 consecutive weeks in the top spot ended in September.
Williams has not played a match on tour since losing in the semifinals of the United States Open in September. She plans to open hertennisseasonnextweekinauckland,new Zealand.
Though Ohanian, 33, is significantly less well-known by the general population, he too has risen to the top of his field since starting thesitethatwouldbecomeredditwithhiscollege roommate, Steve Huffman, 11 years ago.
The site was pitched to the start-up incubator Y Combinator and was acquired by Condé Nast just 16 months after it began. In 2010, Ohanian joined Huffman at another company, Hipmunk. In 2013, he wrote a book about the power of the internet called “Withouttheirpermission”.newyorktimes