Serena’s up for a fresh challenge
FAMILY WAY: WILLIAMS TO HAVE BABY DURING US OPEN
Washington
Serena Williams has spent her career defying the odds, winning 23 Grand Slam singles titles and becoming the oldest world No 1 at the age of 35. But now she will face perhaps the ultimate challenge – making a comeback after motherhood.
Williams, who announced her engagement to Reddit social media site co-founder Alexis Ohanian last December, revealed this week she is having a baby, in a Snapchat photo with the caption “20 weeks”.
If she is right, it would mean Williams won the Australian Open, her 23rd Grand Slam crown to set an Open Era record, without dropping a set on January – while eight weeks pregnant.
It would also mean she could give birth during the US Open, which begins on August 28.
Kelly Bush Novak, Williams’ publicist, said only that Serena “is expecting a baby this fall” and “looks forward to returning in 2018”.
After the flurry of well-wishes, one question quickly came to the fore: can Williams, who turns 36 in September, return and overtake Australia’s Margaret Court for the all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles crowns?
Court was 29 when she gave birth to son Daniel in 1972 and the next year captured her final three Grand Slam titles – the Australian, French and US Open.
Williams has not backed down from challenges, injuries, age, controversy and tragedy in becoming the face of women’s tennis for most of the past two decades.
Serena’s WTA Tour career began at 14 in 1995 in Quebec City.
She then stunned top-ranked Martina Hingis to win the 1999 US Open at 17 for her first Grand Slam title, becoming only the second African-American woman to win a major crown after Althea Gibson. –