Serena Williams, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, says the most amazing moment of her career was winning the Australian Open in 2017 while she was nine weeks pregnant.
“I don’t know how I did that, honestly,” Serena said on June 6, 2025, at a business conference in Berlin, Germany.
Serena has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and four Olympic gold medals, but she says winning in Melbourne while expecting her first daughter, Olympia, was the hardest and most special victory.
“I couldn’t run for a long time during that tournament,” she explained. “I just remember not being able to breathe after a long point. At one moment, I even lost a point on purpose just to catch my breath.”
Serena was 35 years old at the time and didn’t lose a single set during the tournament. In the final, she beat her sister Venus Williams, which made the win even more emotional.
“I didn’t tell anyone I was pregnant,” Serena said. “Only two people knew—one of them was Venus. I still feel a little bad about that. She must have felt the pressure of playing me in the final knowing I was pregnant.”
Serena officially retired from tennis in 2022, ending a career that lasted 27 years. Today, she is the head of Serena Ventures, a company that invests in new businesses. She spoke to a group of businesspeople in Berlin as part of her work outside of tennis.
Even though she had many great moments in her tennis life, Serena says that playing and winning a Grand Slam while pregnant was something she still finds unbelievable.
“That whole tournament was crazy,” she said with a laugh. “But I did it. And it’s something I’ll never forget.”
Now, at 43 years old, Serena continues to inspire people both in sports and in business. Her story is a powerful reminder of how strong and determined a person can be—even when facing something as difficult as pregnancy and competition at the same time.
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