Serena Williams has spoken about pregnancy, race and body image in a wide-ranging interview with Vogue.

Williams and her fiance, the Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, are due to welcome their first child at the end of the year, but she says she wants to return as early as January to defend her Australian Open title. “It’s the most outrageous plan,” she said. “I just want to put that out there. That’s, like, three months after I give birth. I’m not walking anything back, but I’m just saying it’s pretty intense.”

The American is the holder of 23 major singles titles, and acknowledges that winning will be a tough task after nearly a year away from the professional circuit. “In this game you can go dark fast,” she said. “If I lose, and I lose again, it’s like, she’s done. Especially since I’m not 20 years old. I’ll tell you this much: I won’t win less. Either I win, or I don’t play.”

Williams would not be the first tennis star to make a successful return after pregnancy. Kim Clijsters retired abruptly at 23, having won the 2005 US Open, but the Belgian was even better after a 28-month layoff that included the birth of her daughter, winning once more at Flushing Meadows as an unseeded wild card in only her third tournament back.

Williams has been the target of criticism about the way she plays the game throughout her career but says it is not something that bothers her. “Not only me, but women in general sometimes feel that power is a bad word,” said the 35-year-old. “As I’ve gotten older I’ve started to feel differently about it. Power is beauty. Strength is beauty. So now on the court I want people to think that I’m powerful. But I also want them to be shocked at how I play. I want people to expect something, then get something different.”

Williams also said that the way she is perceived by some tennis fans is shaped by her race. “I feel like people think I’m mean,” she said. “Really tough and really mean and really street. I believe that the other girls in the locker room will say, ‘Serena’s really nice.’ But Maria Sharapova, who might not talk to anybody, might be perceived by the public as nicer. Why is that? Because I’m black and so I look mean? That’s the society we live in. That’s life. They say African Americans have to be twice as good, especially women. I’m perfectly OK with having to be twice as good.”

Williams has appeared on the cover of Vogue twice previously, and said it was a positive step for African American women. “Being black and being on the cover was really important to me,” she said. “The success of one woman should be the inspiration to another, and I’m always trying to inspire and motivate the black girls out there. I’m not a model. I’m not the girl next door. But I’m not hiding. Actually, I look like a lot of women out there. The American woman is many women, and I think it’s important to speak to American women at a time when they need encouragement. I’m not political, but I think everyone is worried, to a degree.”