Serena Williams might not have won on the tennis court at Wimbledon over the weekend but she’s always a big winner in her husband’s eyes.
After his wife was defeated on Saturday by Angelique Kerber, her hubby, tech founder Alexis Ohanian, took to Instagram to share that he couldn’t have been more proud of how far she has come since giving birth to their daughter last fall.
“Days after our baby girl was born, I kissed my wife goodbye before surgery and neither of us knew if she would be coming back, the Reddit co-founder and venture capitalist wrote. “We just wanted her to survive—10 months later, she’s in the #Wimbledon final.”
The 36-year-old gave birth to their first child together, Alexis Olympia, in September.
Soon after giving birth via a C-section, Williams fell short of breath and had a CT scan that revealed several blood clots in her lungs. As she began medicating with a heparin drip, a coughing spell from a previous pulmonary embolism caused her C-section stitching to pop open. She was forced into surgery to have a filter inserted into her veins to prevent blood clots from dislodging and traveling into her lungs.
Despite the near-death postpartum experience, Williams persevered, practiced and had her eyes set on the prize before falling short.
“@serenawilliams will be holding a trophy again soon—she’s got the greatest one waiting at home for her,’ Ohanian continued, “Our family knows she’ll win many more trophies, too. She’s just getting started. And I couldn’t be more proud.”
It’s obvious that Serena has the world’s best cheerleader (and hubby) in Alexis and for that she’s always winning.