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Serena Williams
Serena Williams has given birth to a healthy baby girl. The tennis champion welcomed her first child with her fiance, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, a source close to Williams confirmed to Us Weekly.
The 35-year-old gave birth at a hospital in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, the source said.
Williams was induced on Thursday night, according to local news station CBS 12.
“Obviously, I’m super excited,” Serena’s big sister, Venus, told ESPN shortly before her match at the US Open on Friday afternoon. “Words can’t describe.”
Williams has previously said that the pregnancy was an accident. She learned she was pregnant just before the Australian Open in January, which she went on to win.
She told Vanity Fair she was so shocked that she took six pregnancy tests.
“I did a double take and my heart dropped,” she said. “Like literally, it dropped.”
She’s also shared her reservations about becoming a mother for the first time.
“I don’t know what to do with a baby. I have nothing … I’ve done absolutely nothing for the baby room,” she told Vanity Fair.
“I’m nervous about childbirth,” she told Vogue. “I’m not a spring chicken. The one thing I really want is an epidural, which I know a lot of people are against, but I’ve had surgeries galore, and I don’t need to experience any more pain if I can avoid it.”
Despite her own admission that she’s “not being a baby person,” Williams said that giving birth would make her feel like a “real woman.”
“I have so much respect for so many women,” Williams told Stellar. “I am about to be a real woman now, you know? It’s going to be something incredibly impressive to go through.”
The former World No.1 accidentally announced her pregnancy in April via Snapchat, when she posted a photo with the caption “20 weeks” while on a tropical getaway.
She later revealed she meant to only send the photo to close friends, but instead posted it on her public Snapchat story.
During her pregnancy Williams posed for a series of stunning photoshoots, showing off her incredible figure.
She trained throughout her pregnancy and says she plans to be back on the court in 2018.
“My baby is going to be in the stands,” she told Gayle King in April, “hopefully cheering for me and not crying too much.”