Daily routines and otherwise simple tasks. They seem to have had Serena Williams in sticky situations this week. Just a couple of days ago, Williams reached out to her followers on Instagram: “Okay, so I need a little help. Should I take a quick nap, or should I go to the gym?”

That was a day before her appearance at Vogue World in Paris. Fast forward to June 24 and another fashion show appearance later, Serena found herself in a conundrum yet again. But this time, it was her husband who she called for help…

…which she didn’t get. But ultimately, she figured it out. It was a struggle, but she figured it out. And it all started with the Thom Browne haute couture fashion show during Paris Fashion Week.

The 42-year-old looked stunning in a strapless, red corset adorned with Thom Browne’s signature Hector dog print, adding a frilly, peplum-esque touch to the ensemble by wearing it over a pastel pink striped button-up blouse. With a matching mini-skirt and an eclectically striped and braided coat draped over her shoulders, she completed the look with a red-and-white plaid tie placed precisely into her corset to secure her shirt collar. And, well, that’s where the problem lay.

Serena Williams posted a TikTok on Wednesday, documenting her struggle to remove the tie in question. Showing off her outfit after the event, she said, “This is my Thom Browne look. I don’t often wear ties, so trying to figure out how to take this off.” As she tried to loosen it, she succeeded, exclaiming, “Oh!” But her joy was short-lived because she couldn’t remove it. “I was just gonna say it’s easy,” Serena snickered. She realized the difficulty as pulling on one end didn’t unravel it as expected. That was when she called out for help: “Alexis!”

The 23-time Grand Slam champion quickly realized, “He’s on a work call.” So, her call for help was of no use, and the struggle continued. Williams even tried to use her teeth to loosen the knot, but that didn’t seem to work. That said, she probably didn’t want everyone to witness just how much effort it took to undo the tie, so she cut to when she finally got it loose enough to take off. “Figured it out. There we go,” she said.

While she said she doesn’t wear ties too often, Serena Williams did put forth the possibility of wearing one again. Particularly the Thom Browne one. And I’m going to keep it like this, so when I want to wear it again, all I have to do is tighten it. So there you go.” The TikTok video may have only shown the remnants of her outfit, but it’s safe to say the 42-year-old made a stunning fashion statement with her extravagant apple-red ensemble as she sat on the front row during the Thom Browne’s Fall 2024 couture show in Paris.

Serena posted a few pictures of herself after getting dressed for the event, writing, “It’s @thombrowne time!” Needless to say, her look garnered quite some love. Paris Hilton commented, “😍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️” while model Gigi Hadid wrote, “LOVE ❤️ 🐩” Not only did she reference the Hector prints on Serena’s corset and skirt but also the purse she was carrying, shaped like Hector – Thom Browne’s dog.

Coming back to her struggles with the tie. This time, the 23-time Grand Slam champion resolved the problem herself because, as Serena said, her husband was on a work call. Interestingly, back in 2022, Alexis Ohanian opened up about how his wife taught him to switch off from work.

When Serena Williams taught Alexis Ohanian a valuable lesson
Instead of only appreciating hard workdays, Serena Williams taught her husband the value of relaxing and recuperating. In a 2022 interview, Ohanian talked about how difficult it was initially to juggle work and fatherhood, frequently finding it challenging to do his assignments day and night. But Serena’s outlook on life gave him a different viewpoint.

The 41-year-old entrepreneur explained, “[My wife’s] got like a switch in her brain where when she’s not on the clock, she is off. She is not thinking about tennis or business or fashion or anything. It’s date night, or it’s Olympia time. It’s like it is off. I’m certain that is a muscle she’s exercised her entire career.” Serena Williams has opened up about doing this several times, talking about the importance of ‘me time.’

In an appearance on the Business of Feelings podcast in 2022, the 23-time Grand Slam champion opened up about how she’s still not perfected the art of taking time out for herself. She said, “I do all this stuff. I do my work and then do VC stuff, and then I do Olympia stuff. But I don’t do Serena stuff. I’m still trying to figure out the balance of how to prioritize myself, but it’s hard as a mom. It’s like, ‘Olympia wants to do this, Olympia wants to do that,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay, I can do that, and I can do this.’ There’s no time for me. So, I’m still trying to figure that out.”

While they’re both still learning to disengage from their commitments and prioritize themselves from time to time, Alexis Ohanian definitely feels his wife is doing a better job at it. Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on the amazing couple? Let us know in the comments!