Serena Williams was charmed by her now-husband Alexis Ohanian on their first date when he found the perfect conversation starter: Marvel movies. Tennis legend Williams first met Reddit co-founder Ohanian at the 2015 Italian Open.
Two years later, he proposed, and they tied the knot in November 2017, just a month after welcoming their first daughter, Alexis Olympia, as reported by Daily Mail. The couple had their second daughter, Adira, in August 2023.
In a recent episode of her ESPN+ docuseries “In The Arena”, Williams and Ohanian reminisced about their first date nine years ago, where Williams brought along her agent and assistant.
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Ohanian recalled their first date as a “two-hour interrogation” as Williams tested his intentions. However, he eventually won her over by steering the conversation to Marvel’s iconic superhero franchise.
Ohanian described the evening as a ‘two-hour interrogation’ before he managed to win Williams over by bringing up Marvel’s historic superhero franchise.
But the American entrepreneur and investor first said: “Serena, her assistant, her agent, and then me on the other said of the table, and they just bombarded me with questions.
“It was like two hours of interrogation and questions. Do I have kids, am I married. Nothing was off limits.”
Williams referenced her current agent Jill Smoller and laughed: “Jill asked him straight up like, ‘What’s up with your girlfriend?’ and he’s like, ‘I don’t have a girlfriend.”’
“He was saying that he had broken up with her. It changed things when he said that because I was like, ok, now he’s not being this beast.”
She then added: “During dinner he started talking about Iron Man and Marvel, and that’s the way to my heart.”
Ohanian recalled: “This wasn’t just a superficial, ‘Hey I’ve watched a few movies.’ This is, “I have deeply studied the text and I have strong opinions about this lore.”’
Smoller, who also features in the docuseries, said: “It was so fascinating because they both loved the same thing. He was into sci-fi and cartoons and superheroes and I’m like… she can finally talk to someone who likes the things that she does.”
Following their first date, where they bonded over a shared love for superheroes and sci-fi, Williams and Ohanian got engaged in early January 2017.
