Just weeks after giving birth to her daughter Olympia, the tennis legend Serena Williams penned a heartfelt note to her own mother, Oracene Price. In that note, Williams praised her mother’s parenting skills and hailed her as “one of the strongest women I know.” She even thanked her mother for her constant support amidst all the tough times in her career. While her father Richard Williams trained her daughters in the sport, her mother, Oracene, provided the backend support. Together, they helped the Williams sisters reach the heights. Recently, Williams, the mother of two beautiful daughters got reminded of the invaluable contributions of her own mom in her life while trying to fulfil her own motherhood duties. What did she say about her ‘super-mom’, though?
In 2021, during an interview with the ‘Good Morning America’, Serena Williams spoke about one of the biggest inspirational figures in her life. She said, “I’ve always been inspired by my mom, but I’ve never been inspired to the level that I am now. I respect her so much more. Not that I didn’t, but I think when I had a baby, I relied on her more than I ever have. I never expected that, so that’s really cool for me.” Williams gave birth to Olympia on September 1, 2017 and then almost six years later, Alexis Ohanian and Serena welcomed their second child, Adira.
Williams considers becoming a mom her greatest achievement – as well as one of her biggest challenges. Since welcoming her first child, she has had to overcome quite a few difficult moments, including a life-threatening condition and postpartum depression. She has been very open about her the struggles of her motherhood. Highlighting all of these, she revealed that there were times she felt like, “Sometimes I get really down and feel like, Man, I can’t do this.” But during all these moments, she at times used to get reminded of a woman who worked tirelessly to push them where they are today. Who’s that woman? Well, her name is Oracene Price.
Highlighting the enormous contributions of her mother in her own motherhood journey, Serena Williams recently came up with a tweet saying, “Far too often being a mom is a thankless full time job, with no time or energy left to care for yourself or move at the end of the day. I’m gonna thank my mom tomorrow for all she did for me -the things seen and unseen. #tired #exhausted #mom.”
Far too often being a mom is a thankless full time job, with no time or energy left to care for yourself or move at the end of the day. I’m gonna thank my mom tomorrow for all she did for me -the things seen and unseen. #tired #exhausted #mom
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) April 10, 2025
However, this wasn’t the first time that we’ve seen her highlighting the role of her mother in her life. In 2024, during an interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit, she was asked to share her thoughts on the contributions of her parents in her life. Replying to that, Williams said, “I say that if you have to take a human body my dad was a body and my mom was a spine and I think there’s no better way to describe it that’s how important and into us, she was to us to our family to my career um and uh yeah she really particularly with me she worked on my mental toughness more than anything else.”
Not only Serena, even Venus Williams has also time and again reflected on the same in multiple occasions. For example, in May 2024, she gave an interview with the Hamilton College community and during that interview while talking about her mother’s role in their upbringing, she said, “She’s the woman with the values. She’s the grounding force. So without my mom, I don’t think we could have done anything we did in the sport.” She hails her mother as a “strong role model.”
Talking about role models, well, recently Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian was also spotted getting a bit nostalgic while getting reminded of his late mother, Anke during a memorable experience in Sweden. How did he get reminded of his mother recently, though?
Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian’s Nordic experience gets reminded of his late mother
In 2005, Alexis Ohanian’s mother was diagnosed with an untreatable, cancerous brain tumor, Glioblastoma. Her conditions got a bit worsen after that and three years later in March 2008, Anke passed away at the age of just 54. After the demise of his mother, Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis felt a bit dejected, but soon he managed to turn those negative emptions into something positive by establishing the 776 foundation.
Last year, on his mothers death anniversary, Ohanian penned down a heartfelt note saying, “My mom died 16 years ago today. This used to be the hardest day of the year for me (Ides of March, go figure) and then 3 years ago I started my family foundation — and found a new meaning to this day — one that I know she’d have been proud of.” His mother was extremely supportive of his career choice and just like Williams’ mother, even Anke was the one who stood beside his son the most in his tough times.
Recently, Ohanian shared a video clip from his recent Sweden trip. In that video, he showcased an assortment of Nordic licorice, a distinctly flavored “salty licorice” or Finnish “salmiakki“, is a beloved treat across Nordic nations and it’s also found in Benelux and norther Germany. Since, Anke was born and raise in Hamburg, Germany, Ohanian revealed her mother used to love these things. So, when he saw those, it reminded him of his late mother.
Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian highlighted those things in his recent video clip and captioned the post saying, “This Nordic licorice reminds me of my mom, she loved the stuff — it’s not for the weak — but I love it too NGL. Tack Sweden! see ya again soon.”
Both Alexis and Serena considers their mom as the biggest inspirational figures in their lives. So, perhaps with the Mother’s Day knocking at the doors they are now getting reminded of their mom more often.
The post Living the ‘Thankless’ Motherhood Grind, Serena Williams Sees Her Mom Oracene Price in a New Light appeared first on EssentiallySports.