Serena Williams rocked the tennis world on Wednesday evening when she announced that she is 20 weeks pregnant, meaning that she won her record 23rd Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier this year, while expecting a baby.

The soon-to-be World No 1 is due to give birth this autumn and will be on maternity leave through the rest of 2017, before returning to sport in 2018, her spokesperson said.

Serena, the world’s highest paid female athlete, is engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

As soon as the news broke out, first through a short-lives selfie on her social media accounts, there was uproar on the internet as people alternatively congratulated her and marveled at the fact that she won a Grand Slam while pregnant.

Congratulations poured in from the tennis fraternity:

There was shock and awe and lots of praise for Serena who won her record title while pregnant:

There were some jokes as well: