The tennis champion, who welcomed daughter Alexis Olympia last September, famously won her 23rd Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in January 2017 while eight weeks pregnant, a feat she admitted was the most badass thing she’s ever done.
“Oh absolutely! I was two months pregnant. I was literally nine weeks by the end of the tournament. Every day that passed I thought, ‘This is a dream,’” Williams, 35, tells InStyle for her cover story in the magazine’s first-ever “Badass Women” issue.
“I had a really tough first round and an even tougher second round. I thought, ‘I’m probably going to lose early. That’s OK. I have a good excuse for the first time,’” she adds.
And now that she’s back on the court — Williams returned for her first match (and won!) six months after giving birth to Olympia at the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open — the star does admit she needs to find quite the balance between motherhood and tennis.
“I’m in the locker room pumping before a match because my boobs are so big. When I pump, they go down a size or two and I go out and play,” Williams tells the magazine.
But ultimately, now that she is a mom, Williams always makes sure her daughter comes first. “I sneak away to practice, usually around 8 a.m. The only rule I have at practice is to be done at 1 p.m., because as much as I love tennis, I need to be with her. I want to put her above everything else I’m doing,” she says.“Since she was born, I haven’t been apart from her for more than a day.”
When it comes to the possibility of trying for a second baby with husband Alexis Ohanian, Williams thinks she may have to officially step away from tennis.
She says, “If I weren’t working, I’d already be pregnant…I don’t know if I want to play if I have another baby…”
