If you watched Williams play in her prime, you’ve probably already seen Chip, sitting proudly in Williams’s player’s box. “He was at every tournament. He even had a championship tie for whenever I was in the finals. He’d get dressed up and wear what I called his ‘champion-Chip’ tie.” But Chip is a good boy of wildly disparate tastes and enthusiasms: He goes everywhere with his mom, from escape rooms to religious services. (With some trepidation, I ask how Chip navigated the escape room. “Well,” Williams responds drolly, “we got out, so he got out.”)
If Chip started small, though, he quickly learned to overcompensate. “Chip’s a very greedy boy,” Williams says. “He’s the human mop of our household. When I’m cooking in the kitchen, I never have to worry about cleaning up the floor after. I buy him all fresh food, which he loves—but honestly the guy eats apples.”
Below, Serena Williams answers the Dogue Questionnaire:
Vogue: What is your dog’s best quality?
Serena Williams: His loyalty. No matter what, he loves being around me. He always comes back to mama.
Who would voice your dog in a movie?
Timothée Chalamet.
Describe the voice you use to talk to your dog.
I talk to him in a regular voice. He’s almost like a human, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I always say he’s my son. We will straight up have conversations.
What is Chip’s weirdest nickname, and how did you come up with it?
Well, it’s not weird, but Mijo. My best friend is Mexican and started calling him Mijo, which means “young man” or “son” in Spanish, and it stuck.