World number two Serena Williams is pregnant and due in the autumn, her representative has confirmed, the BBC reports.
The 35-year-old had earlier posted a picture of herself on Snapchat posing in a mirror with the message: “20 weeks”, before deleting the post.
The American, who won an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam in Australia around 12 weeks ago, will miss the rest of the season.
This includes three Grand Slams – the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Williams, who is engaged to the co-founder of community news and chat site Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, is top of the all-time list of major winners since Grand Slams accepted professional players in 1968.
She is second only to Australian Margaret Court on the list of women’s all-time Grand Slam singles titles leaders.
