35-year-old Serena Williams may be expecting her first child with her fiancé Alexis Ohanian, but the tennis star is refusing to move-in with the Reddit co-founder until she is married. The tennis star opened up about her relationship with Alexis, 34, and her potentially life-threatening pregnancy in a new interview with Vogue, explaining that she feared getting pregnant after she was hospitalized with bilateral pulmonary embolisms following foot surgery in 2011. Serena, who admitted her pregnancy was unplanned, has to inject herself with anticoagulants daily because carrying a child increases her risk of blood clots.
Although she was initially terrified of getting pregnant, Serena said she surprised herself when she became ‘really calm’ once she found out that she was expecting.
‘I thought, You have to win, but you’re allowed to lose, because you have something to look forward to,’ she said.
Serena and Alexis are waiting to find out the sex of their child, and while he believes she is carrying a boy, the tennis star is convinced that it is a girl.
‘Two weeks after we found out, I played the Australian Open,’ she recalled. ‘I told Alexis it has to be a girl because there I was playing in 100-degree weather, and that baby never gave me any trouble. Ride or die. Women are tough that way.’
Serena famously won her 23rd Grand Slam at the Australian Open while pregnant, but she has since temporarily retired from competitive tennis to focus on her pregnancy.
Alexis has been spending weekend in Florida to be with her, but she refuses any cohabitation with her partner until after they married. Although she is currently building a home for herself in Florida, she plans to move to San Francisco to be with the tech wiz after their wedding.
Serena is currently eight months pregnant, and her friend Meghan Markle couldn’t help but gush about what a great mother she is going to be. The Suits actress, who is in a relationship with Prince Harry, told Vogue: ‘She will be an amazing mom. The very best, because she is so attuned to balancing strength and sensitivity.
‘Plus, given that she is pretty epic at karaoke, I think she’ll put her signature Serena spin on singing lullabies for the baby,’ she added. ‘I can’t wait for that!’
Kim Kardashian also told the outlet that Serena, her friend of 15 years, is ‘obsessed with karaoke’, while noting that she wishes ‘people could see her silly side’.
However, Serena definitely showed her fans her more playful side earlier this month when she showcased her burgeoning bump in a black crop top and a yellow poodle skirt paired with saddle shoes for her 1950s-themed baby shower. Eva Longoria, Ciara, La La Anthony, Angie Beyince, and Kelly Rowland all donned poodle skirts while celebrating the expectant mom at the unusual shower, which was held near Miami.
In mid-April, Serena revealed on social media that she was 20-weeks pregnant, and she has been proudly showing off her baby bump on Instagram ever since. Serena’s latest series of photos from her shower sees her retro-clad guests surrounding her as they posed in front of an old-fashioned red pick-up truck outside a restaurant called Nick’s Diner.