Tennis

Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, just announced he's giving up his seat on Reddit's board ... and he says it's all in an effort to help the black community.

The 37-year-old -- who co-founded Reddit 15 years ago -- said in a powerful video statement Friday he's urging the company to now give his spot to a black candidate.

Ohanian also announced he's donating any future gains he obtains on his Reddit stock "to serve the black community" ... beginning with a $1 MILLION donation to Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp.

"It is long overdue to do the right thing," Ohanian said. "I'm doing this for me, for my family and for my country. I'm saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks, 'What did you do?'"

Ohanian added, "I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership for people in power right now, and to everyone fighting to fix our broken nation, do not stop."

Ohanian famously married Serena back in 2017 ... shortly after having their daughter, Alexis Olympia.

Roger Federer is finally #1 on the Forbes Highest-Paid Athletes list -- but it's all because two superstars took a pay hit thanks to COVID.

The 38-year-old tennis superstar reportedly raked in $106.3 million from June 1, 2019 to June 1, 2020 (in pre-taxed earnings) from prize money and endorsements.

Federer earned $6.3 million in prize money -- but the bulk of his financial haul comes by way of endorsements ... $100 MILLION from deals with companies like Uniqlo, Credit Suisse, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex and more.

Cristiano Ronaldo clocks in at #2 ($105 million) and Lionel Messi is #3 ($104 million) ... but Forbes points out their take would have been higher if not for the coronavirus pandemic.

"The two soccer icons earned a combined $209 million during the past 12 months, a $28 million drop from 2019, due to salary reductions at many European soccer clubs when league play was halted in March," Forbes says.

Might not be a big deal to you ... but we know some athletes take the Forbes list VERY seriously -- remember when Conor McGregor told Ronaldo to his face that he was coming for that top spot?!

Rounding out the Top 5 is Neymar ($95.5 M) followed by LeBron James ($88.2 M).

Other notable athletes include Tiger Woods at #8 ($62.3 mil), Carson Wentz at #10 ($59.1 mil), Conor McGregor at #16 ($48 mil), Tom Brady at #21 ($45 mil) and Naomi Osaka at #29 ($37.4 mil).

2019 marks the second year in a row Floyd Mayweather's failed to make the list ... after being the highest-paid athlete of the decade.

Nassau County chiefs want their residents to kick each other's balls if they must, but don't you dare go touching them ... tennis balls, that is. Hey, no giggling!

That was pretty much how it sounded when County Executive Laura Curran gave a rundown on how Nassau was going to navigate reopening tennis courts there, and what the new regulations would be when handling one another's balls. Again ... tennis balls.

In fact, you can tell Curran was trying her hardest to get the word "tennis" in there each and every time she mentioned "balls," but eventually she slipped ... and let a free ball run loose in her spiel, saying folks can kick other people's balls (back over to the owner if they happen to roll on over, is what she meant), but there is to be no touching of said balls!

That got a nice chuckle from the crowd who was listening, and finally ... Curran herself cracked up as well. She said she was gonna blush and again made another balls reference that got another giggle from just about everyone. Who says we outgrow sophomoric humor?!

This is the greatest balls moment since the 'SNL' classic ... of course, we're talking about Alec Baldwin's famous "Schweddy Balls" skit, where then too, it was balls galore.

Tennis superstar Roger Federer is helping families in Africa affected by COVID-19 ... with his Foundation using $1 MIL to buy food for kids who can't get to school.

"As a humanitarian response, the Roger Federer Foundation has granted [$1 million] to provide nutritious meals for 64,000 vulnerable young children and their families through our partners in Africa while schools are closed."

Just like in the U.S., there are families who count on the schools to provide breakfast and lunch for kids on a daily basis. With coronavirus forcing schools to close, Federer wants to make sure no kids go hungry during the pandemic.

Federer launched his foundation back in 2004 to help underprivileged families in Africa and Switzerland (where his parents are from) get access to quality education.

According to the RFF website, "the foundation has provided $52 million to education initiatives in more than 7,000 primary schools and pre-schools."

"This has benefited around 1.5 million children with a better education."

Federer has said he's motivated to help in Africa because he used the visit his mother's home country as a child and witnessed the poverty firsthand.

"He wanted to use his success as a way to give back."

Billie Jean King says Maria Sharapova's tennis legacy isn't going to be harmed one iota by her doping scandal -- and it's all because of one simple thing she did ... tell the truth.

We got the tennis legend Saturday in NYC and asked for her thoughts on Maria announcing last week that she was stepping away from the sport, which she dominated for several years. According to BJK, MS is going down as an all-time great ... despite the ding for doping.

Check it out ... Billie says the fact Maria came out right away and addressed the situation head on back in 2016 took a lot of guts, and it's clear she owned up to it sincerely.

You'll recall ... Maria tested positive in 2016 for meldonium, which had very recently been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substance list. She said she'd been taking it for years due to a medical condition, and didn't know it'd been deemed a doping agent.

After being suspended from playing for at least a year, she returned to tennis in the following years and found varying degrees of success before hanging it up. Her streak prior to that, however, is what Billie Jean seems certain Maria will forever be remembered for.

She also talks about what may lie ahead for Maria post-tennis, and wishes her all the best.

Will Smith's gotta share the spotlight now with Serena and Venus Williams -- or at least the young actors who are costarring with him as the tennis phenoms.

Will's been digging into the role of Richard Williams in "King Richard" all week in L.A., but on Thursday we got our first look at his onscreen daughters. Saniyya Sidney is playing Venus and Demi Singleton is Serena in the biopic.

Demi and Saniyya are playing young Serena and Venus -- in their teens, it seems -- but we still don't know who will be playing them as adults ... when they really dominated tennis.

The film, about how the Williams sisters' father raised and coached them to become superstar athletes, is slated to come out in November ... so, ya know the studio behind it is thinking it's gonna be Oscar worthy.

A tennis legend is calling it quits ... Maria Sharapova just announced she's done with the sport for good.

"Tennis -- I’m saying goodbye," Sharapova wrote Wednesday.

"Tennis showed me the world -- and it showed me what I was made of," the 32-year-old added. "It's how I tested myself and how I measured my growth."

"And so in whatever I might choose for my next chapter, my next mountain, I'll still be pushing. I’ll still be climbing. I'll still be growing."

Sharapova was a former No. 1 player in the world ... and won five career Grand Slams -- including Wimbledon in 2004 when she was just 17 years old.

Of course, Sharapova also gained a ton of fame from her rivalry with Serena Williams ... which was more of complete and utter dominance than actual competitiveness.

In 23 career matchups ... Serena won 20 of them, including 18 in a row at one point!!

Maria, though, still won the U.S. Open in 2006, the Australian Open in 2008 and the French Open twice in 2012 and 2014.

But, Maria's career didn't come without controversy ... she tested positive for a banned substance in 2016 and was ultimately suspended from the game for 15 MONTHS.

In fact, the test caused such a backlash in the tennis world ... Genie Bouchard straight-up called her a "cheater" who deserved a lifetime ban.

Sharapova -- who battled numerous shoulder injuries throughout her career -- said Thursday of all the ups and downs in her career, "I realize that tennis has been my mountain."

"My path has been filled with valleys and detours, but the views from its peak were incredible. After 28 years and five Grand Slam titles, though, I'm ready to scale another mountain -- to compete on a different type of terrain."

Some of the biggest tennis stars in the world showed love to Kobe Bryant at the Australian Open on Monday ... from Nick Kyrgios to Rafael Nadal and Coco Gauff.

24-year-old Kyrgios was particularly emotional before the 4th round matchup against Nadal -- wearing Bryant's #8 Lakers jersey and choking back tears as he warmed up at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

After the match, which Nadal won, Rafa put on a Lakers baseball cap and led the crowd in a round of applause for the 41-year-old NBA star.

"What can I say? I woke up this morning with this terrible news," Nadal said during the on-court post-game interview.

"It's super sad. He was one of the greatest sportsmen in history. He deserves a big round of applause. It's one of these days that you want to forget but of course, Kobe Bryant will be in our hearts and in our minds for the rest of our lives."