“I want to thank Jehovah God,” could be often heard coming from Serena Williams‘ lips after important wins. Although a faith that discourages competitive sports, among other things, Williams has found a quiet strength in her belief. Having converted to the religion in the 1980s after her mom, Oracene Price, introduced Venus and Serena to it, the latter got baptized in January 2023. Although being a Jehovah’s Witness has sometimes earned her ‘reprimand’ from ‘elders’, Serena Williams would never trade it for a skeptic.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg Originals released a new video on their official YouTube channel, where Serena Williams talks in depth about her daily life and her business ventures. But just as the interview is about to end, the 23x Grand Slam champion touches upon giving grace. “I think it’s important also to take a moment and just look up at the sky and give grace, or look at a tree and say, I’m here, I’m alive today. And I’ve been doing that lately, and that has made me just appreciate just being around, and that makes my day even better.”

Serena Williams has admitted to participating in the required door-to-door preaching her faith asks, and not celebrating her daughter Olympia’s birthday. “We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses, so we don’t do that,” the retired tennis star told the press after the 2018 U.S. Open. The faith in Jehovah’s Witness now also runs in Williams and her family. Even her husband Alexis Ohanian follows it, and he didn’t grow up going to church.

“Alexis didn’t grow up going to any church, but he’s really receptive and even takes the lead. He puts my needs first,” Williams told Vogue in 2017.

“Although the Bible does not explicitly forbid celebrating birthdays, it does help us to reason on key features of these events and understand God’s view of them,” reads the official Jehovah’s Witness website. Serena Williams seems to have embraced the asks of her religion but it has gotten her into trouble as well.

Williams wants to develop a special relationship with God

A few months ago, the American tennis legend told the New York Times about why she didn’t celebrate her daughter’s birthday, “I tried to develop a better relationship with God. You have a strong, solid foundation; the Bible says you won’t crack, but the man who built his house in the sand went down spiritually. I have a really strong foundation. That’s how I was raised.”

Things were threatened, however, when Williams apparently gave in to her anger and allegedly threatened a line judge during the 2009 U.S. Open.  Not only was she disqualified but had to answer to church elders for her behavior. Williams said of the incident, “They had to have a talk with me. And I knew it was coming. I just felt really bad, though, because it’s like, that’s not who I am.” 

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“They just talk to you. They show you Scriptures. Not ministers; they call them elders. It’s almost like a reprimand, but it’s not bad because in the Bible it says God loves you, and if someone reprimands you, they love you.”

Williams continues to follow this faith and has often revealed the positive outcomes that come along with it. Well, there are pros and cons to everything right?