Serena Williams Is Down With The ‘French Swirl’

The 30-year-old sports star, who recently bagged the U.S. Open and Olympics titles, appears to have also won the heart of a Frenchman — her tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou. Williams and Mouratoglou were spotted getting up close and personal in Valbonne (a French town) this week. Williams was spotted with her hand in Mouratoglou’s back pocket. Based off of the nonverbal exchange between the two, the relationship appears to be one of comfort and warmth.

While enjoying lunch at a restaurant, Mouratoglou affectionately touched Williams’ shoulder as they appeared locked in conversation. The two also peered at listings in the window of a realtors.

Mouratoglou runs a tennis academy in France and has been working with Williams since her early departure from French Open this summer. “She said, ‘I want to win Wimbledon, I want to start now.’ That’s simple. That’s how it started,” he said of he and Williams’ working relationship. In addition to winning the French Open, Williams has since won Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and gold at the Olympics, proving the two are a great match. Mouratouglou has also sat in player’s box during matches.

French tennis site PKTennis reporting: “Mouratoglou and Williams are seeing each other,” which means the two are a great love match as well. And the pictures of them gazing into the window of Bruce International Properties, which sells property on the French Riviera, could suggest just how serious the two are about their personal and professional relationship. Williams is recanting on her vow to hold off on love for at least 10 years.

Earlier this year, Williams told the media that she was taking a break from dating for a ten years. “I have given up on dating. I’m a really emotional person. I give my all and everything. I do make mistakes — like every human does — but the last relationship just was too much of a heartbreak for me. I just can’t go through that anymore. It was hard. [...] I just have to remove myself from that atmosphere for about the next decade or so,” she said.

Serena was rumored to be dating Drake after her failed relationship with hip-hop icon Common. Sources are unsure if she was referencing her failed relationship from Common, Drake, or someone else. Reports claimed the beef that sparked between Drake and Common was due to a diss lyric that Drake recorded about Serena. In Common’s autobiography titled, “One Day It’ll All Make Sense,” he reveres Serena as “wife material” and even discussed altering his own religious beliefs to accomodate her religious practice as a Jehovah’s Witness. The breakup came less than two weeks after Common, who is ten years her senior, told chat show host Ellen DeGeneres he was planning to marry the tennis champion.

Williams’ sister, Venus Williams, is currently dating a Cuban model.