World No.1 Serena Williams has spoken about the moment she found out she was pregnant during an interview with Gayle King on Ted.com.
The world No.1 discovered the news just two days before the start of the Australian Open in January. At that time, Williams opted not to tell anybody. Instead, she maintained her focus on winning her 23rd grand slam title. Whilst the decision proved successful, Williams admits she had fears about her health whilst playing in Melbourne.
“I found out two days before the Australian Open. I was nervous, I wasn’t sure what quite to think, but I knew at that moment it was important for me to focus at the Australian Open.” Said Williams.
“I was definitely not sure what to do. Could I play, I know it is dangerous, sometimes during the first 12 weeks. I had a lot of questions.”
Bombarded by an array of emotions, the 35-year-old refused to show any signs of weakness to her rivals. Explaining how she achieved her two-week triumph in Australia, Williams had to ‘bottle up’ her feelings in order to live up to her top seed status. It is an admirable approach, but she still feared the worst.
“It wasn’t very easy, you hear all these stories of people that are pregnant getting sick. I had to take all that energy, put it in a bag, so to say, and throw it away.” Williams revealed.
“I felt like I didn’t have any time to deal with any extra emotions because pregnant or not I was supposed to win that tournament.”
‘I’m not done yet’
The world became aware of Williams’ pregnancy due to an accidental Snapchat post. At the time the American admitted that she didn’t want to announce it, but wait another ‘five or six days.’ Williams said the mishap occurred after she ‘pressed the wrong button’ which sent her followers a photo of her in a yellow bathing suit with the caption ‘20 weeks.’
Williams will miss the rest of the season. Still, the 35-year-old intends to return to the tour after being inspired by her sister Venus and Roger Federer, both of whom are older than her.
“For me everything is mental. I definitely plan on coming back, I’m not done yet.” She stated. “I’m really inspired by my older sister (Venus) and she’s a year older than me. If she’s still playing I can play.”
“Roger Federer, he’s a bit older than me and he’s still winning everything. I know I can do that too, and that’s been so inspiring for me.”
The Nastase response
At the start of the week Williams took to social media to hit back at Romanian Fed Cup captain Ilie Nastase. The controversial figure made world headlines last week after cracking a joke about Williams’ unborn baby, which many deemed as racist. During a press conference Nastase was heard speculating Williams’ child would be ‘chocolate with milk.’
Responding to the comments, the 23-time grand slam champion slammed them as ‘racist.’ During her statement, she also used extracts from the poem ‘Still I rise,’ written by civil rights activist Maya Angelou.
“I think they were very inappropriate comments and not only that. I felt it was important to stand up for each other and myself. To say I’m not afraid and I’m not going anywhere.” She told Ted.com.
The full interview can be seen below (courtesy of ted.com) :-
