Serena Williams To Compete In First Tennis Match Following Pregnancy

The pro athlete is preparing for her highly anticipated return to the tennis court.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Serena Williams will compete against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017. It will mark her first match following her recent pregnancy.

"I am delighted to be returning to the court in Abu Dhabi for the first time since the birth of my daughter in September," Williams said in a statement to ESPN. "The Mubadala World Tennis Championship has long marked the beginning of the men's global tennis season and I am excited and honored to be making my comeback as part of the first women to participate in the event."

As Nicki Swift previously reported, Williams, 36, and her Reddit co-founder husband, Alexis Ohanian, 34, welcomed their daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., on Sept. 1, 2017. The new mom had accidentally revealed her pregnancy in April. The cute pair began dating in 2015, before announcing their engagement in December 2016 and tying the knot in November 2017.

Williams famously took time off from tennis earlier in the year due to her pregnancy but had initially planned her official return in Jan. 2018. She last played professionally in Jan. 2017, while she was eight weeks pregnant, beating her sister Venus Williams at the Women's Singles Match at the 2017 Australian Open. However, she later hit the courts to practice in July. 

"This is just a new part of my life. My baby's going to be in the stands and hopefully cheering for me," she told The New York Times in April, while later telling Vanity Fair in June, "I don't think my story is over yet."

Neither do we! While we wait to watch Williams hit the tennis court this weekend, read up on everything you need to know about her husband.