The 39-time tennis champion recently confirmed a rumor where it was suggested that she tried to cash a million-dollar check at an ATM drive-thru early on in her career during an appearance on Hot Ones.
“I got my check, and it was a million dollars,” Serena Williams recalled. “Like, OK, I’m gonna go deposit it. I went through the drive-thru … and the guy was like, ‘Uh, I think you need to come inside for this,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, OK.’”
For her, playing the sport has always been about her love of the game versus simply chasing a million-dollar check. “I never played for money,” said Williams. “I played ’cause I loved the sport … I don’t even know if I wanted to play to be the best; I wanted to win.”
Although it has never been about the coins for her, Williams has leveraged her superstar status to build a strong financial future for her family. The mother of two launched Serena Ventures in 2014. Based in Washington, D.C., the venture capital firm “seeks to invest in e-commerce, fintech, health, sports & wellness, web3, education technology, enterprise, social and climate technology sectors.”
Of all the businesses that Serena Ventures has backed, 79% are founded by underrepresented founders. Another 54% are led by women, 47% represent Black founders, and the organization has invested in 11% of Latino business owners.
Leading by example, the tennis champion’s eldest daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., made history when she joined the investment group, which includes her parents, for the women’s soccer team Angel City FC at the age of 2. Now, at age 5, she is also the part-owner of the Los Angeles Golf Club.
Serena Williams and hubby Alexis Ohanian welcomed a second child, daughter Adira River Ohania,n in August 2023. A year earlier, the tennis superstar announced her retirement from the sport that she has been engulfed in since the age of 4.
“I started playing tennis with the goal of winning the U.S. Open. I didn’t think past that,” she wrote in a personal essay featured in Vogue.
“And then I just kept winning…I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a grand slam final. I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. I didn’t show up the way I should have or could have. But I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually, it’s extraordinary. But these days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter.”
