Here, we debunk the rumors that Serena Williams is pregnant following the tennis star announcing her retirement to Vogue.
Serena Williams has confirmed she will retire from tennis as she prepares to ‘evolve away from tennis’ and “grow her family.”
The 40-year-old tennis legend who has won 23 Grand Slam titles revealed the news in an article for Vogue published on Tuesday August 9.
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Tennis icon announces plans to retire
“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams wrote. “Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
It is thought the upcoming US Open – beginning in New York on 29 August – may be her last ever tournament.
It is clear that family time is now one of her main priorities, telling Vogue that her daughter, Olympia, wants to “be a big sister”.
Williams says she “never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family”, adding: “I don’t think it’s fair.”
She explains: “If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labour of expanding our family.
In an accompanying Instagram post, she wrote that “the countdown has begun”:
Serena Williams is pregnant rumors debunked
After the news broke on Tuesday, fans asked if Serena Williams is pregnant. One outlet reported, ‘tennis superstar Serena Williams appears to be pregnant. According to multiple people who saw Serena this weekend…the tennis superstar appears to be sporting a visible belly bulge.’
However, reports that Serena Williams is pregnant appear to be false. As reported by Page Six, ‘Williams…is not yet pregnant with their second child.’
In the Vogue article, Serena did say that her and husband Alexis Ohanian have been trying in the last year.
“In the last year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child, and we recently got some information from my doctor that put my mind at ease and made me feel that whenever we’re ready, we can add to our family,” she explained.
“I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out.”
Serena won the 2017 Australian Open while pregnant
In January 2017, Williams actually won the Australian Open while pregnant. She reportedly found out that she was expecting just before the tournament began. As she reportedly told Vanity Fair in June of 2017 that she took a pregnancy test as a joke to prove her friend wrong about her suspicions.
Williams was around 20 weeks pregnant with daughter Olympia when she won the Grand Slam event in Melbourne. Serena Williams overcame her sister Venus in the women’s singles final to surpass Steffi Graf as the player with the most major wins in the women’s game in the Open Era.