Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian wooed the tennis legend on their first date when he steered the conversation toward a key topic: Marvel movies.
Williams, widely considered the greatest female tennis player of all time, met Ohanian at the 2015 Italian Open before the Reddit co-founder proposed two years later.
The couple has been married since November 2017, a month after welcoming their first child, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. They then welcomed a second daughter, Adira River Ohanian, last August.
In the latest installment of their ESPN+ docuseries ‘In The Arena,’ both Williams and Ohanian relived their memorable first date nine years ago, with the 23-time Grand Slam winner arriving with her agent and assistant.
Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian wooed her on their first date by talking about Marvel superhero movies
Alexis described the evening as a “two-hour interrogation” before managing to convince Serena by mentioning the historic Marvel superhero franchise.
But the American businessman and investor said first: ‘Serena, her assistant, her agent and then me on the other side of the table, and they just bombarded me with questions.
“It was like two hours of interrogation and questions. Do I have children? Am I married? They didn’t prohibit me from anything.”
Williams referenced his current agent Jill Smoller and laughed: “Jill asked him point blank, ‘What about your girlfriend? ‘ and he said, ‘I don’t have a girlfriend. ‘”
“He was saying that he had broken up with her. Things changed when he said that because I thought, well, he’s not that beast anymore.”
She added: “During dinner he started talking about Iron Man and Marvel, and that’s how he got into my heart.”
Serena opened up about her first date with Alexis during the latest installment of her docuseries
The couple came together thanks to Marvel films like Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr. (pictured)
Ohanian said their initial conversation was a “two-hour interrogation” before they found common ground.
Ohanian recalled: “It wasn’t something superficial, like, ‘I’ve seen some movies.’ It was something like, ‘I’ve studied the text in depth and I have strong opinions about this tradition.'”
Smoller, who also appears in the documentary series, said: “It was fascinating because they both liked the same things. He liked sci-fi and cartoons and superheroes, and I thought… she can finally talk to someone who likes the things she likes.”
After sharing their love of superheroes and sci-fi on the date, Williams and Ohanian eventually got engaged in early January 2017.
Later that month, the women’s tennis great claimed victory at the Australian Open while pregnant with her first daughter.
