"How did that happen so fast?" - Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian gushes over youngest daughter Adira on her first birthday

Serena Williams's husband Alexis Ohanian recently gushed over their youngest daughter, Adira, on her first birthday. This came after Williams shared pictures from her maternity shoot, which featured Ohanian and their elder daughter, Olympia, to celebrate Adira River's birthday.

The couple welcomed their first daughter, Olympia Ohanian in 2017 and their second daughter, Adira, was born on August 15, 2023. To celebrate Adira River's first birthday this year, the 23-time Grand Slam champion shared a two-slide post on Instagram featuring a heartwarming family photo, with everyone dressed in white.

"Adira is a girl’s name of Hebrew origin and means ‘mighty,’ ‘strong,’ and ‘majestic.’ The elegant name is popular in many cultures around the world. Adira is the feminine form of the classic name Adir. It is a Biblical name, meaning ‘Strong One.’ @alexisohanian @olympiaohanian," Williams wrote in the captions.

Alexis Ohanian expressed surprise in the comments at how quickly Adira had turned one.

"She's ONE! how did that happen so fast," Alexis Ohanian commented on the post.

Alexis Ohanian shared his reaction; ( Source - https://www.instagram.com/p/C-sj4frpHxD/?img_index=1)

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"And that was a very hard decision": Serena Williams on retiring to focus on her family

Pennsylvania Conference for Women 2018 - (Source: Getty)

In an interview with Bazaar a few weeks ago, Serena Williams reiterated that she retired from the sport to have a family, not due to fitness concerns.

"I love watching it. I love playing it. I love being a part of it. I’m still really good at it. [Laughs.] I always say the reason I stopped was not because of injury. It was because I wanted to have a family," Serena Williams said.

Williams noted that retiring from tennis was a "very hard" decision, given she knew she could still perform at a high level. She added that stepping away to focus on her legacy made her miss the game more than others might.

"And that was a very hard decision to have to make when you know you can still play and perform at a very high level, and then have to say no [to that part of yourself], because you want to have a future and leave a mark. I think if I didn’t have that, maybe I wouldn’t miss it as much, but because of the way I had to depart, maybe I do miss a little bit more than the average person," she added.

Serena Williams played her last match at the 2022 US Open, where her family supported her from the stands on her campaign. She lost to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 5-7, 7-6, 1-6 in the third round, marking the end of her professional career.