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Serena Williams opens up about pregnancy: 'It just doesn't seem real'

Serena Williams sent fans into a frenzy when she announced her pregnancy in April — but no one was more surprised at the news than the tennis superstar herself.
/ Source: TODAY

Serena Williams sent fans into a frenzy when she announced her pregnancy in April — but no one was more surprised at the news than the tennis superstar herself.

“(I) did a double take and my heart dropped. Like literally it dropped,” Williams revealed to Vanity Fair for the magazine's August cover story. She added that her immediate reaction was, “Oh my God, this can’t be — I’ve got to play a tournament. How am I going to play the Australian Open?"

In fact, Williams had only taken a pregnancy test at the suggestion of a friend, after she'd complained of feeling "physically different" a week before the tournament started in January. She recalled thinking, “I’ll take it just because (a) to prove you wrong and (b) because it’s fun, whatever. It’s like a joke. Why not?”

Serena Williams on the cover of Vanity Fair, channeling Demi Moore's iconic photo.
Serena Williams on the cover of Vanity Fair, channeling Demi Moore's iconic photo.Vanity Fair / Annie Leibovitz

The accompanying photos, shot by Annie Leibovitz, see the 35-year-old mom-to-be paying tribute to the photographer's famous 1991 image of a 7-month-pregnant Demi Moore cradling her bare baby bump. (Natalie Portman also re-created the stunning pose in January.)

Williams, who's due this fall, is now about six months into her pregnancy and still getting used to the idea of motherhood.

“It just doesn’t seem real. I don’t know why. Am I having a baby?” she said. “I don’t know what to do with a baby. I have nothing … I’ve done absolutely nothing for the baby room.”

However, her fiance, 34-year-old Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is “earnestly preparing and already has a tip jar he puts money into whenever he uses profanity so he won’t utter it around the baby,” according to Vanity Fair's Buzz Bissinger.

Ohanian also opened up to the magazine about what made him pop the question to the tennis great in December 2016.

“I felt like a door had been opened to a person who made me want to be my best self,” he said “I find myself just wanting to be better by simply being around her because of the standard she holds.”

And as for Williams' career, she claimed we'll see her back on the court as soon as January.

“I don’t think my story is over yet," she said.