Entertainment
Meghan Markle Made A Surprise Appearance At Wimbledon To See BFF Serena Williams
Just in case you needed another reason to be jealous of Serena Williams, she's officially got a royal cheering section. On Thursday, July 4, Meghan Markle made a surprise appearance at Wimbledon to support Williams and prove that their friendship is officially the most enviable one in Hollywood.
According to People, the Duchess of Sussex stopped by the tennis tournament for the third year in a row to cheer on her close friend, who was facing off against Kaja Juvan. Markle was joined by two of her close friends from Northwestern for the outing, which marks one of the first public appearances that the duchess has made since giving birth to son Archie Harrison on May 6. While she may have been taking a break from maternity leave, baby Archie wasn't far from her thoughts, as she wore a delicate "A" necklace in honor of her newborn son.
The duchess and tennis superstar have been close friends since they first met at a Super Bowl party in 2010, and Markle has turned up to the London-based tournament to support her BFF for years, including an appearance alongside Kate Middleton in 2018. Williams even treated Markle to a post-baby shower dinner in New York back in February, because these two are truly #friendshipgoals.
In June 2018, shortly after the Royal Wedding, Williams told press at Wimbledon that their friendship hasn't changed, despite Markle's new title and role as a member of the Royal Family. "Our friendship is exactly the same," the tennis star said. "We always have supported each other and, you know, just been there for each other through a lot."
According to Glamour, she echoed those statements a few months later, when she told Australia's The Sunday Project, "We were actually just texting each other this morning. We have known each other for a long time, but we really kind of are relying on each other right a lot recently."
In April, the tennis star gushed about Markle to E! News ahead of Archie's birth, telling the outlet that the duchess will "be the best mom, for sure." She also offered up some words of wisdom for her close friend, based on what she learned in the first year of parenting her daughter, Alexis Olympia. "Accept mistakes and don't expect to be perfect. We put so much pressure on ourselves," Williams said. "This is a time that everything is not going to go as planned... My whole life is so planned and this is the one time where it wasn't. You just gotta go with the flow."
Most recently, Williams said that she's hoping to just support Markle through the first "three, four months" of parenthood before offering any advice to her friend. "I never pass on words of wisdom, especially when you've just had a baby — it's so difficult to just be," she told BBC Breakfast.
The tennis superstar also explained that becoming a mother (and seeing one of her best friends become a mother as well) has changed the way she thinks about her life and career. "Becoming a mum has changed my perspective on a lot of things, I want to leave a legacy," Williams explained. "I want to be this positive person for my daughter — everything I do, I want to do for my daughter."
With both Williams and the Duchess of Sussex in her life, it seems clear that Alexis Olympia will have plenty of strong, inspirational women — and a very inspirational friendship — to look up to as she grows.