Serena Williams talks pregnancy, nerdy fiancée with Gayle King
Serena Williams says she’ll be back on the tennis court after winning a grand slam title while pregnant earlier this year. The tennis star spoke with “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King Tuesday at the TED2017 conference in Vancouver.
While the tennis icon and businesswoman is adding mom to her “resume,” as she told King, that won’t be slowing her down.
“Well, I’m always trying to defy the odds, you know. So, for me, everything is really mental and I definitely plan on coming back. I’m not done yet,” Williams said.
Even at 35 years old, and with a baby on the way, Williams is confident her time on the tennis court is far from over, though her time as a mother is about to begin.
“This is just a new part of my life and my baby’s gonna be in the stands hopefully cheering for me and not crying too much,” Williams said.
Williams is known for her precision on the court, but it was a social media mistake that led to her latest headlines, CBS News correspondent Dana Jacobson reports.
Williams says she accidentally shared the pregnancy news with the public on Snapchat last week, posting a picture with the caption “20 weeks.” She meant to save the photo on her phone, “But you know how social media is — you press the wrong button and…” Williams said at TED2017.
The future Hall-of-Famer found out she was expecting only two days before the Australian Open this past January, and told King: “I was nervous. I wasn’t sure what to do. Can I play?”
She played — and won, beating her sister Venus and capturing the 23rd grand slam title of her career.
Williams also opened up to King about her love life. She’s engaged to investor and Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian.
An interesting takeaway from their conversation is that Williams is so competitive that she says she was actually angry when Ohanian first proposed to her. It was right in the middle of her training season and she “had to win” the Australian Open. We know how that ended.
Watch the above video to hear how Williams first described her now fiancée to King.