Serena Williams announces pregnancy, but she’s not the first athlete to compete with a bump

SERENA Williams is arguably the greatest tennis player of all time. But she’s not the first elite athlete to compete while pregnant.

SERENA Williams is superwoman. We’ve known it for a while. She’s arguably the best tennis player of all time.

She has won more grand slam titles than any player in the open era — when the sport became professional.

And while she’s copped her fair share of criticism — people have slammed everything from her on court demeanour to (rare) form slumps, and even her fashion choices — she has answered in the best way, coming back and winning. Time and time again.

She now holds 23 grand slam titles. That’s more than Steffi Graf (22), and many more than the top male tennis player — Roger Federer, who holds 18 grand slam trophies.

News today that she won the 2017 Australian Open while pregnant has only enhanced her greatness.

Serena Williams announced her pregnancy on Snapchat overnight. Picture: Snapchat

Serena blasted through the Australian Open in 2017; winning while eight weeks pregnant. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Posting a pic on Snapchat to her many fans, she’s captioned it “20 weeks”.

Which, if the pic was taken today, means she was around eight weeks pregnant when she defeated her sister Venus in the 2017 Australian Open.

Not only did she win the Australian Open while pregnant, she didn’t drop a set through the whole tournament.

She’s proven before she’s tough as nails — competing while sick, and coming back from major health issues and injury, to again be number one in the world.

But dominating a grand slam tournament when you’re at the stage of pregnancy where many women are so sick they can barely get out of bed is something else.

She deserves the title of greatest of all time.

But Serena Williams isn’t the only athlete who’s stunned the world by competing at an elite level while pregnant.

Paula Radcliffe

The British marathon champion has spoken regularly about the importance of running — even while heavily pregnant. While she admitted “the athlete in me doesn’t like being pregnant”, she continued to race — even running 10km in 45 minutes when seven months pregnant.

A pregnant Paula Radcliffe running alongside her daughter three-year-old daughter Isla at the 2010 New York Mini 10K. Picture: Alamy

World Champion Jana Pittman continued to train well into her pregnancy.

Jana Pittman

The Australian athlete has trained throughout her pregnancies. She was even filmed sprinting hard the day before she gave birth in 2015. The 400m hurdler had previously had a child — winning her second world championship just eight months after the birth of her first child.

Kerri Walsh Jennings

The three-time Beach Volleyball Olympic champion won her third gold medal at the London games. She told the US Today show shortly after: “When I was throwing my body around fearlessly, and going for gold for our country, I was pregnant”.

Not only was she pregnant at the time, she was already a mother of two — and had somehow managed to stay at an elite level for many years while juggling the demands of young children.

While there’s no hint of a baby bump, Kerri Walsh Jennings was five weeks pregnant when she won Gold for the US in Beach Volleyball at the London Olympics. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Nur Suryani Mohammed Taibi

Nur is an Olympic shooter, a sport where precision, and staying incredibly still while you aim is key. Yet she competed while she was eight months pregnant, earning the title of the ‘most pregnant Olympian’ in history. Her baby must have been quiet while she was shooting.

Anky van Grunsven

The Dutch equestrian rider won the dressage event in three successive Olympic Games: Sydney, Athens and Beijing.

It’s her efforts in Athens though that she is most remembered for — winning a gold medal while five months pregnant in a sport where precision, timing, and balance means the difference between gold and the rest of the field.

Anky van Grunsven was five months pregnant when she won Gold for the Netherlands in Athens. Picture: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Kristie Moore

The Canadian curler stepped onto the ice at five months pregnant during her home Olympic Games. She won a silver medal for her efforts.

Twitter: @KateCalacouras