Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, recently discussed the “fights” he had with her about the weight gain she experienced after giving birth to her first daughter, Olympia Ohanian.
Williams met her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, in a hotel in Rome in 2015 while she was in the city for the Italian Open. The couple became engaged in 2016 at the same hotel. They welcomed their first child, a daughter named Olympia, on September 1, 2017, and got married in New Orleans in November 2017. In August 2023, they welcomed their second daughter, Adira River Ohanian.
What Did Patrick Mouratoglou Disclose About Having a “Fight” With Serena Williams Due to Her Weight?
In August 2025, Williams revealed that she has been taking a class of medication called GLP-1, which is often used for type 2 diabetes and obesity, to assist with weight management. Following this revelation, Mouratoglou spoke with The Guardian about how he addressed Williams’ weight gain after Olympia’s birth.
Mouratoglou stated that after Olympia was born, he asked Williams to lose the weight she had gained during her pregnancy. He mentioned that his comments were not a critique of her appearance but rather a concern related to tennis as a sport where players cannot be overweight.
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“Oh, I remember it very well. It was after the pregnancy – not right after; I know these things take time. I told her: ‘Listen, this is not a comment on how you look. It’s not my problem.’ But tennis is a sport in which you can’t afford to be overweight,” Mouratoglou said.
The Frenchman explained that excess weight can impact a player’s joints and, even being just one kilogram overweight, could affect their performance.
“First of all, the pressure on your joints and everything is so big that your chances become much higher. The second thing is that it’s a sport in which you change directions all the time and with a lot of speed. Even one kilo overweight is a lot. When you go full speed in one direction with one kilo extra and then need to stop and come back, the time that you lose is really important,” he continued.
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Mouratoglou stated that Williams’ weight gain hindered her movement on the court, increasing her risk of injury.
“Just look at the best players in the world – Alcaraz, Sinner, Djokovic. Think about their movement. The weight was affecting her movement. In Serena’s case, she was older, so of course, the body is not going to bounce back the same as before, and the risk of injury is even bigger,” he said.
Mouratoglou revealed that discussions about her weight led to a few “fights” between them, as Williams felt that he was judging her.
“We had a few fights about it. I remember she did not like when I said that because she thought I was judging her. But I kept telling her, I don’t care about your look. It’s not my job. My job is your tennis. If you want to come back to the top and make history, then we have to be very efficient on every level – including this one, which for me was the key element,” Mouratoglou added.
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Williams retired from professional tennis in 2022 after competing in the US Open. In singles, she secured victories against Danka Kovinić and Anett Kontaveit before losing to Ajla Tomljanović in the third round. In the women’s doubles event, she teamed up with her sister Venus Williams and lost in the first round to Lucie Hradecká and Linda Nosková.
