Serena Williams spokesperson has confirmed that Serena and fiancé Alexis Ohanian are expecting their first child. “I’m happy to confirm Serena is expecting a baby this fall.
Due to this development, she will not be in any competitive game for the rest of the season.
The American, who won an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam in Australia in January, will miss the rest of the season. This includes three Grand Slams – the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Williams, who will return to world number one next week, would be eligible to retain her ranking under the WTA special ranking rule if she is ready to play her first tournament within 12 months of giving birth.
US Open Tennis responded to Williams’ message by saying: “Serena Williams will have a new pride and joy to hug and call her own soon! Congratulations on the exciting baby announcement!”
The news broke Wednesday morning after the 35-year-old Williams offered up a side profile shot of herself in a yellow swimsuit with a caption that read “20 weeks” in a Snapchat posting that quickly disappeared.
But not before a screen shot was taken and sent around the Web.
That means Williams was pregnant when she won the Australian Open in January, further adding to her rep as one of the greatest athletes of all time.
After pulling the Snapchat post there was speculation as to whether Williams was just playing with fans even as good wishes flowed in from fellow celebs and US Open Tennis.
Williams, who is engaged to the co-founder of community news and chat site Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, is top of the all-time list of major winners since Grand Slams accepted professional players in 1968.She is second only to Australian Margaret Court on the list of women’s all-time Grand Slam singles titles leaders.
She is also a five-time Tour finals winner, the last of which came in 2014, and was recently picked as the greatest female tennis player of the Open era by BBC Sport users.