Alexis Ohanian is showing his wife major support from the sidelines.
On Tuesday, the husband to superstar Serena Williams, showed up to the Australian Open rocking a T-shirt stating, “greatest female athlete” with the word female crossed out. The back of the tee simply says, “ever,” per The Hill.
The tee, which features an image of the tennis player, goes for $35 on nike.com and is described as:
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“Serena Williams continues to cement her legacy as one of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. Just months after earning her 23rd Grand Slam title in April 2017, Serena announced that she was 20 weeks pregnant—meaning that she’d been pregnant during her incredible win in Melbourne! The Serena Williams T-Shirt lets you celebrate her extraordinary accomplishments in the comfort of soft cotton.”
The Reddit co-founder married Williams in 2017 and the couple share a 3-year-old daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.
Despite being one of the greatest athletes of all-time, Williams is often faced with criticism. As reported by theGrio, Madrid Open owner Ion Tiriac recently made awful comments about the beloved player.
“Serena was a sensational player,” Tiriac told Romanian public channel TVR in a recent interview. “If she had a little decency, she would retire. At this age and the weight she is now, she does not move as easily as she did 15 years ago.”
Ohanian slammed the former tennis player on social media in response to the comments.
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“2021 and no holding back when a racist/sexist clown with a platform comes for my family,” he posted on Twitter. “Safe to say no one gives a damn what Ion Tiriac thinks.”
This isn’t the first time the 81-year-old has thrown shade at Williams and it’s also not the first time her man has defended her. In 2018, Tiriac made some similar comments and said “I would like to see something else, I would like to see a player like [German tennis legend] Steffi Graf.”
At the time, Williams responded by insisting she planned to address it with him.
“I always say people are entitled to their opinion…Clearly there’s more to women’s tennis than me,” she told The New York Times then. “There’s a lot more, but I’ll have words with him, believe me, I’ll have words with him. It’s an ignorant comment, and it’s a sexist comment, and maybe he’s an ignorant man.”
Ohanian took to social media to respond and he wasn’t as polite.
“Had to Google it… turns out my 3 year old has more Grand Slam victories than this (clown emojis).”
Additional reporting by Cortney Wills
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