Serena  baptised as Jehovah's Witness 

Tennis icon Serena Williams has been baptized as a Jehovah's Witness just four months after retiring from tennis.

In September, the player many consider the greatest female competitor of all time bowed out of the sport at the US Open, following an emotional defeat to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round.

It brought the curtain down on a 27-year career which saw her win 23 Grand Slam titles, the most by any player in the open era.

She has since hinted at a future return, but the star has thus far resisted the temptation to play competitively again.

And she's reportedly used her time away to study more about her religion, having previously expressed desire to embrace her Jehovah’s Witness faith. And now a Tweet by @RealMoshudKarim has revealed a video of the tennis icon getting baptized.

"Serena Williams, the famous Tennis player got baptized today at the Jehovah's Witness Assembly in West Palm Beach Florida," she wrote. "According to the Governing Body of the religious sect in Watchtower 2019, study 40, paragraph 14, only baptised Witnesses will be saved."

During an interview with Vogue in 2017, Williams spoke about her faith and also the support of her husband: "Being a Jehovah’s Witness is important to me, but I’ve never really practiced it and have been wanting to get into it," she said. "Alexis didn’t grow up going to any church, but he’s really receptive and even takes the lead. He puts my needs first."

Williams, 41, may not have taken centre stage in tennis headlines of late, but she has still been in the news after voicing support of her friend Meghan Markle. The Duchess of Sussex and her husband, Prince Harry, have been at the centre of a controversial rift with the Royal Family and have recently starred in a Netflix fly-on-the-wall documentary.