"When he proposed I was angry" - When Serena Williams discussed her relationship with Alexis Ohanian and the timing of his proposal

Serena Williams said that she was almost angry when Alexis Ohanian proposed to her.

The couple have been together since 2015 and got married in 2017, two months following the birth of their daughter Olympia. Williams spoke to journalist Gayle King during a TED Talk in 2017 and said that she never felt the pressure to get married since she loved her career and was very career-oriented.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion also stated that she almost got angry when Alexis Ohanian proposed to her as it was in the middle of her training season while she was preparing to fight for the Australian Open title.

"I actually never felt pressure to get married and I can't say I'm the marrying type of person. I really love my life, I love my freedom, I heard that kind of changes but I love everything that I do and I love my career and I always felt like I didn't want anything to interfere with that," Serena Williams said.

"I'm actually been so career-oriented and in fact, when he proposed, I was almost angry. Not almost, I was angry because it was right in the middle of my training season and I said, 'I gotta win the Australian Open, I cannot fly to Rome' because he wanted to take me to Rome and I said, I can't, I got to win,'" she added.

The 41-year-old stated that at the time, she was focused on surpassing Steffi Graf's Grand Slam tally and that doing so meant a lot to her.

"I was really focused on reaching my goals and I knew at that point there was one player that I wanted to pass, I wanted to pass Steffi Graf's record and that really meant a lot to me. When I put my mind to something, I am really determined to reach it no matter what," she explained.

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"I feel like winning for me is super addictive" - Serena Williams

Serena Williams at the 2022 US Open

In that interview, Serena Williams further stated that winning is extremely addictive for her. She spoke about how she felt when she won her first Major and that there was no feeling in the world like it.

"I feel like winning for me is super addictive. I'm still like once you experience it you always want to get that feeling again. When I won my first championship, I was only 17 years old but I never forgot that feeling and I feel like everytime I win one, I want to reach that feeling of your first championship, there's really no feeling in the world like it," Williams said.