Serena Williams poses nude on cover of Vanity Fair, talks tennis after the baby

ByABC News
June 27, 2017, 1:14 PM

— -- Serena Williams, who poses nude on the cover of Vanity Fair's August issue, said she plans to return to the tennis court after giving birth to her first child.

"I don’t think my story is over yet," the 35-year-old tennis star and winner of 23 grand slams told the magazine.

Williams is engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

In the magazine, Williams recalled learning she was pregnant a week before the Australian Open last January. After taking a home pregnancy test, she said she "did a double take and my heart dropped. Like literally it dropped." She took five more tests to be sure, then called Ohanian, who hopped on a flight to Australia.

PHOTO: Serena Williams is featured on the cover of "Vanity Fair" August 2017 cover.
Serena Williams is featured on the cover of "Vanity Fair" August 2017 cover.

Williams still can't believe she's really going to be a mom.

"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.

She's also trying to enjoy "the little freedom" she has left before marrying Ohanian.

The seemingly mismatched pair -- she didn't know what Reddit was and he had never seen a tennis match -- met by chance in May 2015 at the Cavalieri Hotel in Rome, where they were seated next to each other. After dating nearly two years, in December 2016 they returned to the Cavalieri where Ohanian proposed on one knee.

"I knew it was coming," Williams recalled. "I was like, ‘Serena, you’re 35, you’re ready. This is what you want.'"

Ohanian said he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Williams because she made him want to be a better person.

"I find myself just wanting to be better by simply being around her because of the standard she holds," he told Vanity Fair.