Pregnant Serena Williams poses nude on the cover of Vanity Fair

Serena Williams has documented her pregnancy with an incredible nude photograph on the cover of Vanity Fair.

Tennis pro Serena is currently expecting her first child with fiancé Alexis Ohanian, and chose to capture a stunning moment in the the nine-month journey with a photoshoot with world-renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Image: Vanity Fair/Annie Leibovitz

Telling the title that she's now more than six months gone, Serena said that the her changing figure is helping impending motherhood to feel more 'real'.

'If you would have told me last year in October or November that I would have a baby, not be pregnant but have a baby, I would have thought you were the biggest liar in the world,' she admitted, after detailing how the pregnancy had come as surprise to the pair. 'This is kind of how I am right now. This is happening sooner than later, and it's going by so fast.'

Whilst close friend Diondria Thornton added that Serena 'loves being pregnant', Serena herself admits that she's not quite prepared for the new arrival just yet: 'I don't know what to do with a baby. I have nothing. . . . I've done absolutely nothing for the baby room.'

Serena first announced the happy news that she was expecting on her Snapchat feed back in April, sharing a picture of herself in a yellow swimsuit and cradling her growing bump.

'20 weeks' the caption on the image read.

The sportswoman and her partner Alexis, the founder of Reddit, announced their engagement back in December 2016.

'It feels good,' she said of the union the following month, prior to her appearance at the Australian Open. 'I really haven't thought about it too much, because I wasn't even really gonna think about it until after the tournament.

'So, I just keep saying, "February, I'll start looking at the bigger picture of my life." But right now I'm just so focused that this is all I can think about.'

The couple got engaged in Rome at the same restaurant where they met by chance, and in keeping with her husband-to-be's work, she announced the happy news in the form of a sweet poem via her personal account on Reddit.

She wrote: 'I came home late. A little late. Someone had a bad packed for me. And a carriage awaited. Destination: Rome. To escort me to my very own "charming". Back to where our stars first collided. And now it was full circle. At the same table we first met by chance. But not by choice. Down on one knee. He said 4 words. And r/isaidyes'.

The tennis superstar is currently ranked world number 1 in women's tennis singles, having first received the title in 2002. Adding to this, she also holds the most major titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined amongst active players.

Serena is also the current women's singles champion of Wimbledon, having won the title for the seventh time last year, and also the current women's double champion, winning with her sister Venus.