Two Years After Winning While Pregnant, Serena Williams Says She’s ‘Ready’ for Australian Open

Serena Williams is returning to the Australian Open for the first time since welcoming her daughter Alexis Olympia.

Williams, who won the 2016 Australian Open while she was early into her pregnancy, is back in Melbourne for the annual tournament — and she’s ready to win her 24th Grand Slam title.

Shortly after sharing two photos which appeared to show the 37-year-old tennis star practicing on the courts in Melbourne, Williams shared a video of herself looking focused as she worked on her swings and footwork.

“Ready,” she captioned the short clip, including the hashtag “AusOpen.”

The Australian Open, which Williams has already won seven times, begins on Monday, Jan. 14 and will conclude on Sunday, Jan. 27.

Williams’ first match will be on Tuesday, against Germany’s Tatjana Maria.

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Although Williams was pregnant during her last appearance at the Australian Open in January 2016, no one knew at the time.

The tennis star waited until that April, when she was 20 weeks pregnant, to share the happy news about her and husband Alexis Ohanian‘s baby-on-the-way.

Williams went on to tell Vanity Fair that her “heart dropped,” when she initially found out the news., adding that she thought, “Oh my God, this can’t be – I’ve got to play a tournament. How am I going to play the Australian Open? I had planned on winning in Wimbledon this year.”

The tennis star initially planned on competing in the Australian Open last year, but made the decision to withdraw just 12 days before the start of the tournament.

“After performing in my first match after giving birth I realized that although I am super close I’m not where I personally want to be,” she wrote in a statement. “My coach and team always said ‘Only go to tournaments when you are prepared to go all the way.’”

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Williams went on to play in Wimbledon, where she ended up losing in the final match, and recently took on Roger Federer for the first time in a doubles match at the Hopman Cup in Australia, according to the Associated Press.

In front of a crowd of 14,000, Federer, representing Switzerland, took the court with Belinda Benic and beat Williams, who played alongside Frances Tiafoe, five games to three, the BBC reported.

After the match, the athletes — who have 43 Grand Slam titles between the two of them — took a selfie on the court. The mother of one posted the sweet picture to her Instagram with the caption: “Goat vs Goat. The Goat won.” She used the goat emoji as a stand-in for the acronym GOAT, meaning “Greatest of All Time.”