Serena Williams' daughter's doll Qai Qai is the real star of the Australian Open
One of the biggest moods of 2018 was a doll.
But not just any ol' doll – it was Qai Qai, the rather witty and cynical companion of Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., daughter of tennis champion Serena Williams and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
SEE ALSO: Serena Williams' daughter's doll Qai Qai is the biggest mood of 2018
Between engaging in memes and generally pondering life, Qai Qai has embarked upon many an adventure with her human guardian, often sitting courtside at Williams' many matches — all of it posted to the doll's total 106K followers on Instagram and Twitter.
And she's made her most recent splash in Australia, at the Australian Open and Hopman Cup tennis tournaments in January, where the G.O.A.T. has been playing.
When Williams faced off against fellow tennis superstar Roger Federer when Switzerland took on the U.S. in the Hopman Cup mixed doubles in Perth, Qai Qai was there.
A post shared by Qai Qai (@realqaiqai) on Jan 2, 2019 at 8:39am PST
Arriving later in Melbourne for the Australian Open, Qai Qai left her hotel in to do a little sightseeing:
finally left the hotel (floor) to explore the city
A post shared by Qai Qai (@realqaiqai) on Jan 9, 2019 at 11:02am PST
And getting that sweet sunset #content:
I was told sunsets are a must on IG. am I doing this right?
A post shared by Qai Qai (@realqaiqai) on Jan 11, 2019 at 2:58pm PST
Travel snaps aside, Qai Qai was quickly was back in the game, even jumping behind the camera at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena:
anyone know how this thing works? 🎥
A post shared by Qai Qai (@realqaiqai) on Jan 10, 2019 at 5:50pm PST
Gearing up:
A post shared by Qai Qai (@realqaiqai) on Jan 13, 2019 at 12:39pm PST
And cheering on Williams in her show-stopping, badass green romper and fishnet tights, which she donned playing Germany's Tatjana Maria on Tuesday.
After winning the match, Williams talked about Qai Qai to reporters.
“I wanted her to have a black doll,” she said during a press conference. “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 basic human — humans should always have love for each other, no matter what colour they are.”
A post shared by Qai Qai (@realqaiqai) on Jan 15, 2019 at 1:54pm PST
Qai Qai's jubilant posts on tour in Australia signal a shift in mood for the characteristically nihilistic doll — for a full rundown of Qai Qai's evolution, read our feature.
Exactly who runs the doll''s social media accounts has been debated, but Qai Qai's grandad and Reddit founder Ohanian basically admitted to being behind it on Twitter Wednesday, responding to a New York Post article.
"The page, operated by Reddit founder Ohanian..."
SMH. Fake News: I created the account, made the first posts, but I lost the login a little while ago... https://t.co/QO6KYrpzfu— Alexis Ohanian Sr. 🚀 (@alexisohanian) January 16, 2019
Qai Qai wasn't having a bar of it though.
“The page, operated by Reddit founder Ohanian..”
fake. news. 🤨. https://t.co/7Cp6oi2rsr— Qai Qai (@RealQaiQai) January 16, 2019