American tennis star Serena Williams married Reddit Cofounder Alexis Ohanian in 2017. The couple has a five-year-old daughter, Olympia. The 41-year-old recently retired from tennis. She cited spending more family time as the prime reason for her retirement.

Although Serena and Ohanian’s love story goes a long way back, the former world number one also had other dating rumors. Back in 2015, Serena was very close to Canadian rapper Drake. While there were rumors about the two, dating, a statement from Drake made everything clear. Here’s what happened.

When Drake’s statement quashed the rumors of him dating Serena Williams

American tennis great Serena Williams and rapper Drake were very close at a point in time. While everybody thought the two were dating, the Canadian made it clear that his dating priority includes the critical criteria of the girl being a resident of Toronto. He said, “Most people I know stay in Toronto. I plan to spend the rest of my life there. The talk, the smell, the sound that comes out of that city is home to me. When I think about the girls I want to get romantic with, it’s a girl from Toronto who knows what I’m talking about when we drive around the city.”

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Since Serena is from the US, it was a clear indication from Drake that the two are just good friends and there was no chance that the two will ever date.

When Serena met Alexis

The 23-time Grand Slam champion once revealed how she met Ohanian for the first time. In the year 2015, Serena was in Italy to play in the Rome Open. Coincidentally, Ohanian was also in the city for some business reasons. One morning Serena was having breakfast with her friends and other than her group, there was only one person in the room. It was Alexis Ohanian.

The girl gang didn’t like the stranger’s presence in their territory and planned to fend him off. Serena tried to get rid of Ohanian by saying that there was a rat in the room. However, the Reddit cofounder was seemingly unfazed by their tactic. The two later bonded, and we would often see him supporting Serena in crucial matches.

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The two welcomed their daughter Olympia in the year 2017 and also tied the knot in the same year.