Serena Williams broke news of her pregnancy by uploading a photo of herself to Snapchat with the caption “20 weeks.”
But as it turns out it was a complete accident!
The undisputed queen of tennis opened up about the blunder to Gayle King at Tuesday’s 2017 Ted Talks conference.
“Well, actually it was an accident. I was on vacation just taking some time for myself and I have this thing where I’ve been checking my status and taking pictures every week to see how far along I’m going,” she said.
She added: “I didn’t tell a lot of people to be quite honest and I’d been saving it. On social media, you press the wrong button and… Thirty minutes later I missed four calls and I’m like, ‘That’s weird.’ But it was a good moment. I was only going to wait five or six more days [to share].”
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The 35-year-old’s representatives were forced to confirm the exciting news just hours after the tennis star posted (and quickly deleted) the image of her growing baby bump.
The pregnancy announcement was met with utter joy and no small amount of amazement as quick-thinking fans worked out that the 23-time Grand Slam winner was approximately eight weeks pregnant during the Australian Open—which she won—in January.
But the tennis star, who discovered she was expecting just two days before the tournament, said it wasn’t an “easy” experience.
“You hear all these stories about people when they’re pregnant: They get sick, they get really tired, really stressed out,” she said. ‘I had to really take all that energy and put it in a paper bag, so to say, and throw it away. Pregnant or not, no one knew and I was supposed to win that tournament. Every time I play, I’m expected to win. If I don’t win, it’s actually much bigger news.”
As for her future in tennis? The athlete remains adamant that she isn’t yet ready to end her time on the court.
“This [motherhood] is just a new part of my life. My baby’s going to be in the stands and hopefully cheering for me.”
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The tennis great says she’s excited to one day play in front of her baby.
Serena became engaged to Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian while holidaying in Italy in December.
Posting on Reddit, Serena shared a beautiful poem about the pair’s “full circle” romance.
“I came home/ A little late/ Someone had a bag packed for me/ And a carriage awaited,” she wrote.
“Destination: Rome/ To escort me to my very own ‘charming’/ Back to where our stars first collided.”She continued, “And now it was full circle/ At the same table we first met by chance/ This time he made it not by chance/ But by choice/ Down on one knee/ He said 4 words/ And I said yes.”
Congratulations again to the happy couple!
