NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Tennis

Tennis: American writer earns wrath of Serena Williams supporters with controversial article on her marriage

By Jai Bednall for news.com.au
news.com.au·
20 Sep, 2018 10:41 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Naomi Osaka emotional after defeating Serena Williams. Photo / Photosport

Naomi Osaka emotional after defeating Serena Williams. Photo / Photosport

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Twitter mob — or, if you like, the Serena Williams social media support society — has a new target.

Chair umpire Carlos Ramos and Australian cartoonist Mark Knight can move aside, a female American journalist is now in the crosshairs.

Slate's Heather Schwedel has dared to venture where many wouldn't with a critical assessment of Williams' marriage to Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, specifically their regular public displays of affection.

If you haven't followed the celebrity couple's journey since they were married last year, Ohanian is a big old smoothie who loves to let everyone know how much he loves his wife.

He erected a series of billboards celebrating the 23-time grand slam winner as the Greatest Mother of All Time on her return to tennis after a difficult first pregnancy and the birth of their daughter, Olympia.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He also whisked Williams off to Italy in August because she felt like Italian for dinner.

As Schwedel noted in her piece, most of these moments — and many others — are shared by the couple on their social media, leading her to ask: "What exactly are they trying to prove?"

"Williams has more money than she could ever need, and Ohanian has millions of his own," Schwedel wrote. "So why are they so intent on packaging their family life into social media — friendly morsels of content?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alexis Ohanian Sr. (@alexisohanian)

"It's true that the work of building a brand is never done — maybe the more perfect Williams' personal life looks, the more endorsement dollars she'll be able to get Nike to cough up.

"Maybe Williams and Ohanian are hoping to burnish their public personas in preparation for whatever comes after tennis.

"Or maybe it's cynical to consider the financial upsides, and this is just what it looks like to fall in love and start a family with a fellow cajillionaire who just so happens to have built his fortune on the social internet. What makes this question so endlessly compelling is that we'll never really know."

Unsurprisingly, it went over like a lead balloon with many on social media.

Discover more

Tennis

Serena breaks silence on Open storm

16 Sep 05:07 PM
Tennis

Serena storm flares up with latest claim

17 Sep 05:58 PM
Tennis

Federer's 'interesting' take on the Serena debate

18 Sep 06:48 PM
Tennis

Serena should apologise for outburst - Nigel Owens

20 Sep 08:30 PM

That Slate article is pure projection. Because you are sad, unhappy, and useless in your own romantic relationships, Serena (and Alexis) are automatically performing their happiness?

Y’all are pathetic lol pic.twitter.com/QcrEv7OA3P

— Clarkisha Kent (@IWriteAllDay_) September 20, 2018

I know a WW wrote that shit. She can't wrap her mind around the fact that Serena is loved and adored. We ohh and ahhh over happy white couples.

— Shay Stewart Bouley (@blackgirlinmain) September 20, 2018

Serena and Alexis are oddly enough , not selling anything she wasn't selling before , they in fact probably hoc less shit than your average instainfluencer

— 🗽Sydette Cosmic Dreaded Gorgon Clydesdale🇬🇾 (@Blackamazon) September 20, 2018

Ohanian has also been publicly defending Williams in the wake of the US Open final.

He angrily hit out at a New York Times report that clashed with Williams' argument of unfair treatment towards female tennis players.

Williams was ultimately hit with a game penalty for a series of code violations — sparked by the moment she was reprimanded for receiving instructions from coach Patrick Mouratoglou during the final.

A statistical analysis of crime and punishment of male and female players at grand slam tournaments, published in the New York Times over the weekend, showed male players are actually punished much more frequently than their WTA Tour counterparts.

2/ Now, NYT just released a study of the actual data: contrary to that narrative, male tennis players are punished at far greater rates for misbehavior, especially the ones relevant to that controversy: verbal abuse, obscenity, and unsportsmanlike conduct https://t.co/p7uh5HkRQo pic.twitter.com/4PTHFJ1PAn

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 15, 2018

But Ohanian took exception to the study, slamming the publication's Christopher Clarey in another series of tweets.

Statistics help for @NYTimes @christopherclarey please:

The argument is that women are punished more often *per incident* than men are.

These data only show there are more penalties for men *total.*https://t.co/njqgH4Ut8a pic.twitter.com/2Jiqtn0l7I

— Alexis Ohanian 🇦🇲 (@alexisohanian) September 16, 2018

Williams earlier spoke publicly for the first time since her famous US Open press conference, declaring she did not receive any coaching in an interview with The Sunday Project.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It came after Mouratoglou admitted after the final that he had coached Williams from the stands.

"I just don't understand," she said.

"If you're a female you should be able to do, even half, of what a guy can do.

"He said he made a motion. I don't understand what he was talking about. We've never had signals."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Tennis

Tennis

Sun stuns world number 16 ahead of Wimbledon return

23 Jun 07:09 PM
Sport|tennis

‘They hoped I would get cancer’ – Tennis star on shocking online abuse she suffers

17 Jun 11:48 PM
Tennis

Alcaraz stuns Sinner in in five-set thriller to win French Open

08 Jun 07:07 PM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Tennis

Sun stuns world number 16 ahead of Wimbledon return

Sun stuns world number 16 ahead of Wimbledon return

23 Jun 07:09 PM

The match featured windy conditions, making play challenging for both.

‘They hoped I would get cancer’ – Tennis star on shocking online abuse she suffers

‘They hoped I would get cancer’ – Tennis star on shocking online abuse she suffers

17 Jun 11:48 PM
Alcaraz stuns Sinner in in five-set thriller to win French Open

Alcaraz stuns Sinner in in five-set thriller to win French Open

08 Jun 07:07 PM
Gauff triumphs over Sabalenka in epic French Open final

Gauff triumphs over Sabalenka in epic French Open final

07 Jun 05:55 PM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP