or should we say, have a seat, mom.

(Cheers)

So no doubt, you guys are like me.

You saw the release of Serena

in that great yellow bathing suit last week

and when I saw it, all I could think of was,

"Gosh, why couldn't she have waited til we sat onstage for TED?"

I was very selfish, I know.

So I asked you about that picture,

and you said nobody was supposed to see that picture.

What do you mean?

Serena Williams: Well, actually, it was an accident.

I was on vacation, just taking some time for myself,

and I have this thing where I've been checking my status

and taking pictures every week to see how far along I'm going --

GK: And sharing it with friends, maybe?

SW: No, actually I have just been saving it,

and I didn't really tell a lot of people,

to be quite honest,

and I'd been saving it,

and you know how social media is, you press the wrong button and --

(Laughter)

GK: And there it was.

SW: So 30 minutes later -- my phone doesn't ring that much --

and 30 minutes later, I missed like four calls,

and I'm like, that's weird,

and then I picked it up and I was like, oh no.

But it was a good moment.

I was gonna wait literally just five or six more days -- that's OK.

GK: I know, because it was weird, Serena, because it only said 20 weeks,

so it's not like there was a whole lot of information on it.

SW: Exactly, so that's what I've been doing all this time.

I've been just tracking it.

18, 19 -- every week I'd just take a picture and save it,

and I've been so good about it,

and this was the one time that I slipped.

GK: There you go. Well, congratulations.

SW: Yes, thank you.

GK: It really is OK. When you heard the news,

were you excited? Were you afraid? Were you worried?

That you were pregnant, I mean.

SW: So I heard it two days before the beginning of the Australian Open,

which is one of the biggest grand slams.

GK: You found out two days before?

SW: Yeah, so it was two days before, and I knew.

I was nervous.

I wasn't quite sure what to think,

but I just knew that at that moment

it was really important for me to just focus right there

at the Australian Open,

and I was definitely not sure what to do.

I was like, can I play?

I know it's very dangerous, maybe, sometimes in the first 12 weeks or so,

so I had a lot of questions.

GK: But not only did you play, Ms. Williams, you won.

(Cheers)

SW: Yeah.

May I just say, 23 grand slams to you.

SW: Thank you.

(Applause)

GK: While pregnant!

SW: Well, I was looking for another handicap, so ... no.

GK: Did you play differently that game, knowing you were pregnant?

SW: I did. It wasn't very easy.

You hear all these stories about people when they're pregnant,

they get sick and they get tired.

GK: Have you had morning sickness?

SW: No, I've been so fortunate and so I haven't.

But they get really tired and they get really stressed out,

and I had to really take all that energy,

put it in a paper bag, so to say,

and throw it away,

because I really felt like I didn't have time

to deal with any extra emotions, any extra anything,

because pregnant or not, no one knew,

and I was supposed to win that tournament

as I am every tournament that I show up.

I am expected to win,

and if I don't win, it's actually much bigger news.

GK: Yeah, when you don't win, that's a big story.

SW: Yes, so for me, I had to really take anything negative

and any emotions that I was feeling at that point

and kind of just bottle them up

and really figure out what the next step for me to do was.

GK: You have a lot of support. You have a lot of love.

Even when I was coming here, people stopped me at the airport.

I was saying to the flight attendant, the pilot, "Guess where I'm going?"

They said, "Oh my God, we're so glad she's pregnant."

But then you always have these cranky Yankees.

On the way over here, somebody was telling me about Ilie Nastase,

who said some very unkind, inappropriate, dare I say racial things.

You have responded to him.

I'm not even going to dignify what he said,

but you responded. Why did you respond?

SW: Well, I think there are very inappropriate comments,

and not only that, I've been really supportive of my peers

and the people that I've worked with.

I've been a pro for almost 20 years,

and so for me, it's really important to hold women up,

and it's something that these young women,

they'll come to the locker room, they'll want to take pictures with me,

and for me, it's just like,

I want to be able to be a good leader and a good example for them.

So not only --

(Applause)

Not only did he have rude things to say about me and my peers,

I felt it was important for us to stand up for each other

and to stand up for myself.

And at that point it was really important for me to say,

like, I'm not afraid, I'm not going anywhere,

but this is inappropriate,

and there's time and there's a place for everything.

And that really wasn't the time and the place.

GK: We cut the part where you said you're not going anywhere,

because you'll be 36 in September. Baby's coming, 36.

And your coach said age is always important,

but in tennis it's very important,

but he has no doubt that you're coming back.

Have you thought, am I coming back?

Will I take some time off?

I know the women on the tour are saying,

"How long does it take to have a baby? Two years will she be gone?"

What are you thinking?

SW: Well, I'm always trying to defy the odds, you know,

so for me everything is really mental.

I definitely plan on coming back. I'm not done yet.

I'm really inspired by my sister.

She's a year older than me, and that's something that --

if she's still playing, I know I can play.

(Laughter)

And there's so many -- Roger Federer, he's a little bit older than me

and he's still winning everything, so I'm like, I know I can do that too.

So that's been so inspiring to me, especially recently,

and I know that it's something I want to do.

And my story is definitely not over yet.

I was talking to my coach about it,

and we were talking about how this is just a new part of my life,

and my baby's going to be in the stands

and hopefully cheering for me, not crying too much.

GK: No, you wrote a beautiful letter to your baby yesterday

that you said -- from the oldest mommy to the youngest one,

to the oldest, to the youngest, I can't wait for you to get here.

A lot of people feel that.

I saw you about a year ago, because I think about your life, Serena.

You've had three life-changing things in a six-month time:

pregnant, huge win, fell in love.

And when I saw you last year,

I was saying, "How's your love life? Da da da."

You said, "I met a guy. He's a nerdy, kinda geeky guy.

You won't know who he is."

I said, "What's his name?"

SW: I remember talking to you about that, yes.

GK: And you said, "Alexis Ohanian." I said, "I know him!" He's awesome.

But I would never put you with a nerdy geek,

and you said, you neither.

SW: I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't either,

but it's been the best thing for me.

GK: The best thing why?

Does that look like a nerdy geek?

Look at the shirt.

(Laughter)

No, he's a very nice guy.

SW: You can tell he's into technology.

GK: He's a very, very nice guy.

I like him very much.

So how did he succeed when others have failed?

How was he the one that you knew, this is the one for me?

SW: Well, I'm not going to say that,

but ...

(Laughter)

GK: Say it, Serena, say it!

SW: Well ...

(Laughter)

Yes.

(Applause)

GK: But you know what I mean.

SW: He is very loving and he's very kind, and my mom says he's very considerate,

and when she said that to me,

I was like, you know, he really is,

and it's the little things that really make a huge difference in life.

GK: Like?

SW: Something simple.

My fashion company, we have a show every year,

so in our show last year, I was running around like crazy,

because I do everything for the show,

and everything for it,

so I was running around like crazy,

and he, it was a simple gesture of this shirt that he had,

and he just wanted to make sure that I had the same one,

and it was -- it's a weird story.

It was better in person, I promise.

GK: Was it a wonderful proposal?

Or was it a Beyoncé song?

"If you like it then you ought to put a ring on it"?

Were you feeling pressure to get married?

Did you know it was coming?

SW: Yeah, I actually never felt pressure to get married

and I can't say I'm the marrying type of person.

I really love my life.

I love my freedom.

I heard that kind of changes.

But I love everything that I do,

and I love my career,

and I always felt like I didn't want anything to interfere with that.

I've actually been so career-oriented

and in fact, when he proposed,

I was almost angry.

Not almost. I was angry,

because it was right in the middle of my training season,

and I said, "I gotta win the Australian Open.

I can't fly to Rome."

Because he wanted to take me to Rome,

and I said, "I can't. I gotta win."

But that's how focused I was.

GK: This is a girl that says, "No, I can't go to Rome." OK.

SW: But I was really focused on reaching my goals

and I knew at that point there was one player that I wanted to pass.

I wanted to pass Steffi Graf's record,

and that really meant a lot to me,

and when I put my mind to something,

I really am determined to reach it

no matter what.

GK: You know, you said that for you --

I've heard you say that winning is addictive to you.

SW: It is.

GK: What do you mean?

SW: I feel like winning for me is superaddictive.

I feel like once you experience it,

you always want to get that feeling again,

and when I won my first championship, I was only 17 years old,

but I never forgot that feeling,

and I feel like every time I win one,

I want to reach that feeling of your first championship.

There's really no feeling in the world like that.

And it's like, all these years of training

and being a little kid and playing,

and then winning is a wonderful experience.

So for me I've always felt like I loved that feeling,

and obviously I don't like the feeling of losing. I feel like --

GK: No, in fact, people close to you say you're a very bad loser.