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Serena’s Backup Plans
Serena Williams attends the Thor: Love and Thunder premiere in London after sightseeing with daughter Olympia and husband Alexis and randomly attending Tom Cruise's birthday dinner with Natalie Portman and their husbands

Serena’s Backup Plans

Ideally for Serena Williams, she’d be focused on the Wimbledon semi-finals right now, that was the original plan. Things didn’t go to plan but I do love what she posted on Instagram following her first-round loss: 

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A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams)

 

“My goodness I enjoyed that” – in other words, she had a good time, despite the result. When you’re Serena Williams, the greatest of all-time, when you no longer have to prove yourself, if you’re still doing what you’re doing, it’s about more than the results, it’s about the experience. Right now, competing is still fun for her. Which, to me, is a sign that she will keep going. 

But the next major, the US Open, isn’t until September, so at least for this week, her schedule was unexpectedly clear, and that’s why the backup plans are in full effect. Those backup plans include sightseeing around London with Alexis Ohanian and Olympia….

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A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams)

 

…and also the Thor: Love and Thunder premiere last night. I love this pink Gucci dress on her. 

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A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams)

You know what else they did though? 

 

Serena and Natalie and their husbands were at Tom Cruise’s birthday dinner on Monday night. Random, right? The joke on Twitter is that this is a new phase of recruitment. I think by now Leah Remini has taught us never to dismiss the ulterior motives of the Church of Scientology. That said, I’m not sure Serena and Natalie are the targets here. To me, this is more about Tom Cruise flexing his current popularity after the overwhelming success of Top Gun: Maverick. It’s cool to be in his orbit again. It remains to be seen whether or not he leverages that with nefarious intentions. For now, though, the birthday party is more a sign of Tom’s celebrity power among other celebrities. It’s been a while.