Serena Williams has spent many years within the international highlight, whether or not dominating on the tennis court docket or dazzling on the crimson carpet.
On the 2025 Vainness Truthful Oscars afterparty, she turned heads in a surprising off-shoulder black robe whereas mingling with Hollywood’s elite, together with Kim Kardashian. However regardless of the glitz and glamour of the night, Williams remained dedicated to one thing much more significant-her religion.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion could have retired from skilled tennis in 2022, however she has shifted her focus to a brand new chapter, centered on religion and household. In 2023, she formally embraced her non secular upbringing by getting baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness, a religion that has formed each her private {and professional} life.
This dedication was evident in a latest Instagram publish, the place Williams shared a particular bedtime second along with her daughter, Olympia.
Nonetheless in her elegant apparel from the Oscars occasion, she made positive to tuck her toddler in for the evening, however not with out first saying a prayer. “I strive my greatest to hope each day with them regardless of the circumstances. I slay and pray,” she captioned the heartfelt publish.
Williams’ devotion to her religion goes past private practice-she actively incorporates it into her youngsters’s lives. Since turning into a mom in 2017, she has remained steadfast in her beliefs, even in relation to traditions that differ from mainstream tradition.
“Olympia does not have a good time birthdays,” Williams beforehand informed Folks Journal. “We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses, so we do not do this.”
In a 2024 interview with Glamour, she elaborated on her hopes for her daughters’ non secular progress. “I pray each evening that the women keep shut and have a real relationship with God on their very own and get to know Him,” she mentioned. “It is crucial factor that I personally suppose you are able to do.”
Williams comes from a household with numerous non secular beliefs. Her mom, Oracene, and sister, Venus, are Jehovah’s Witnesses, whereas her father, Richard, will not be. Her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, doesn’t observe the religion both however has at all times been supportive of her non secular journey.
Discovering energy in religion
All through her life, Williams has credited her religion as a supply of energy, significantly in occasions of hardship. One in every of her most troublesome moments got here in 2003 when her sister, Yetunde Worth, was tragically killed in a drive-by taking pictures in Compton. Within the aftermath, Williams turned to her spirituality for steerage and therapeutic.
“I attempted to develop a greater relationship with God,” she informed The New York Occasions in 2007. “You’ve a powerful stable basis, the Bible says, you will not crack, however the man who constructed his home within the sand, his home went down spiritually. I’ve a very sturdy basis. That is how I used to be raised.”
Her religion has additionally been a presence in her athletic profession. Followers typically noticed her thanking God after victories, and even in moments of controversy, she sought non secular reflection. In 2009, following a heated alternate with an official in the course of the U.S. Open, Williams revealed that the Jehovah’s Witness elders had addressed the scenario along with her.
“They simply discuss to you. They present you Scriptures,” she informed Folks Journal. “Not ministers; they name them elders. It is nearly like a reprimand, nevertheless it’s not unhealthy as a result of within the Bible it says God loves you, and if somebody reprimands you, they love you.”
A long-lasting legacy of religion and love
From her unmatched success in tennis to her glamorous Hollywood appearances, Serena Williams stays grounded by her beliefs.
She continues to make sure that religion performs a significant function in her household’s life, providing her youngsters the identical steerage that has carried her by way of triumphs and challenges.
Even in retirement, Williams is shaping a legacy past sports-one of devotion, love, and unwavering religion. Whether or not by way of bedtime prayers with Olympia or setting an instance of non secular self-discipline, she is making certain that the values that outlined her profession will stay on in her youngsters.
For Williams, true success is not only measured in Grand Slam titles however within the basis she builds for her household’s future.
