Serena made sure baby's first doll 'Qai Qai' was black

Serena Williams says she made sure the first doll her daughter Alexis Olympia received was black, and her second one will be white as she teaches a message of "love for each other".

The tennis great, in Melbourne in her bid to win a 24th Grand Slam title, is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian with their first child born in late 2017. Williams, 37, said she rarely came across black dolls when she was growing up and wanted to make sure her baby had one.

"Qai Qai is a doll I got for her. I wanted her to have a black doll," she said after easing into the tournament second round Tuesday.

"Growing up, I didn't have that many opportunities to have black dolls. And I was just thinking, like, I want her first doll to be black.

"And her heritage, obviously she's mixed, she's Caucasian and black, but I feel like that was her first doll and I said her second doll would be Caucasian.

"I definitely want to always teach her love and teach her just that humans should always have love for ...