Serena Williams is without doubt one of the most beautiful and accomplished living women in the world, and she's magnified that with a sensational nude photo shoot for a magazine in which she shows off her burgeoning baby bump. True beauty if ever we saw it.

Serena Williams shows off baby bump at the Met GalaSerena Williams shows off baby bump at the Met Gala

The 35-year-old tennis champion was shot by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz for the front cover of Vanity Fair posing sideways on with nothing but a skin-coloured thong, covering her breasts with one hand and resting her other on her back, her six-month pregnant belly thrust out.

'Check out my Vanity Fair Cover', she told her Twitter followers yesterday (June 27th 2017). 'Question - what do u guys think boy or girl? I'm waiting to find out but would love to hear your thoughts.'

A lot of people think her baby will be a girl, given that she's from a family of mainly women and even Venus Williams reckons they're looking at a female. 'She's going to call me 'favorite aunt', she said in an interview with Eurosport last month. 'We're all like, 'Baby V, baby Lyn, baby Isha.' We all want the baby to be named after us.'

Her comments sparked a social media frenzy, with people assuming that she had let slip the information before Serena could make the announcement. However, it turns out it's still a surprise for everyone as Serena later clarified. 'I did not grow up with any brothers, only sisters and we all say 'she' more than 'he'', Serena said on Instagram.

More: Venus Williams thinks Serena Williams' baby will be a girl

Whatever the gender is, it's the first child of both Serena and her fiance Alexis Ohanian, who is one of the co-founders of internet forum Reddit. They were together around 18 months before getting engaged in December, and just a month later the pregnancy was confirmed. Exciting times are ahead.