“Sometimes it be ya own mini!”
Serena Williams has met her match: her mini-me!
The tennis pro took to Instagram on Tuesday to post an adorable video of herself facing off on the tennis court with none other than her 4-year-old daughter Olympia.
As shown in the clip, below, Serena, 40, — who was wearing a black-and-white printed Nike outfit — appears to be preparing to serve. However, before she does so, she looks to the opposite side of the court, where her opponent is revealed. It’s Olympia, rocking the same outfit as Serena.
The 4-year-old can be seen getting into position, squatting down with her racquet at the ready. Olympia lets out a cute giggle as she looks at her mom.
“Really? This is nuts,” said Serena. The 23-time Grand Slam champion turned away from the net and walked in the opposite direction, before then bouncing the tennis ball off the racquet toward her daughter. Olympian sweetly laughed again and attempted to hit the ball, but missed it.
Serena — who shares Olympia with husband Alexis Ohanian — captioned the post: “Sometimes it be ya own mini!” Check out the video, below!
In addition to the fans who flocked to the post’s comments section to gush over the clip, Alexis also chimed in, writing, “I refuse to believe @olympiaohanian missed that.”
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Serena opened up about childbirth in an open essay published to Elle. The tennis star got candid about her lack of connection to Olympia until after her birth.
During her pregnancy, Williams wrote about the anxiety she felt due to the lack of bond she felt with her daughter while she was in her womb.
“I was nervous about meeting my 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢. Throughout my pregnancy, I’d never felt a connection with her,” Williams reflected. “While I loved being pregnant, I didn’t have that amazing Oh my God, this is my 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 moment, ever. It’s something people don’t usually talk about, because we’re supposed to be in love from the first second.”
“Yes, I was a lioness who would protect her 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 at any cost, but I wasn’t gushing over her,” she continued. “I kept waiting to feel like I knew her during pregnancy, but the feeling never came. Some of my mom friends told me they didn’t feel the connection in the womb either, which made me feel better, but still, I longed for it.”
Despite her worries, the connection the athlete had been craving finally came after Olympia’s birth in 2017. Although that feeling wasn’t instantaneous, Serena described her love for her daughter as a seed that grew.
“When I finally saw her — and I just knew it was going to be a girl, that was one thing I knew about her before we even had it confirmed — I loved her right away,” she wrote. “It wasn’t exactly instantaneous, but it was there, and from that seed, it grew. I couldn’t stop staring at her, my Olympia.”
“I spent the night in the hospital with my 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 in the room. When I woke up, she was nestled in my arms. The rest of my body was paralyzed. I couldn’t get out of bed because my legs were still numb, but it didn’t matter. Alexis and I sat there, alone with our new 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢. It was surreal to feel the presence of this third person in the room,” Williams added.
