After giving birth to Olympia, Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Kim Clijsters both achieved Grand Slam victories, and Serena Williams came agonizingly close to doing the same after losing in four finals.
The WTA revised the rules prior to the 2019 season, making it simpler to return to the tour following a maternity hiatus.
After their child is born, new mothers can now enter 12 tournaments using their prior ranking during a three-year period.
However, the 2016 mother of a baby named Leo, Victoria Azarenka, the former world number one, thinks the WTA should implement maternity pay as its next move.
Azarenka stated to BBC Sport in Brisbane earlier this year, There is a lot more that has to happen and I hope that we are on the right route to do that.
The modification of the maternity leave’s financial component is, in my opinion, crucial. I hope we can find the means to accomplish it because I believe it would be a major victory for women in general. That seems like it would be amazing.
I’m assuming that I’m in a better financial situation than some players who might not be in the top 100, but we might share similar goals and aspirations to start a family and pursue their careers.
Moreover, six months after giving birth to her daughter Shai, Naomi Osaka decided to rejoin the tour in Brisbane.
The four-time Grand Slam victor is completely committed to Azarenka.
She stated, I feel like having a child shouldn’t seem like a punishment and I think it would surely be life-changing.
I believe that the majority of female athletes talk about how having a child will either drastically alter or end their career, therefore it’s important to simply appreciate them more and give them more options.
Following talks at the WTA Finals last year, chief executive Steve Simon wrote to top players that maternity coverage is an issue planned for review. Since then, the WTA has not released any updates.
It has also been guaranteed that returning mothers with a special ranking high enough to be seeded would not play against a seeded player in the first eight tournaments’ first round since 2019.
With the use of seeds, tournament organizers can make sure that the top players in the world play against lesser-ranked opponents in the first round of contests instead of against each other.
Williams has stated unequivocally that when she rejoined the tour in 2018, she felt punished for becoming a mother.
Prior to the regulation change, Williams had a special ranking of one at the French Open that year but an actual rating of 453, therefore he was not seeded.
Tatjana Maria of Germany, a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2022, was one of seven mothers in the Indian Wells main draw this year.
The world number 46 travels with her coach and spouse Charles, as well as their three-month-old baby Cecilia and 10-year-old Charlotte.
When she took her first vacation from the tour at the age of 25, she didn’t have a sizable career income to support herself, and she feels that maternity pay is long time.
I believe that this is the right thing to do because, in other professions you may have anywhere in the globe, it is standard practice to be paid when you become pregnant. Why not in tennis, in my opinion? stated Maria.
There are more mothers touring these days, and as we enter a generation where performances are longer than ever, there will be even more of them.
The WTA needs to notice that there are more mothers traveling and take action.
Maria would also want to see childcare facilities included on the tour as standard. The facilities at the four Grand Slams are excellent; but, on the WTA Tour, day care is only available at the Stuttgart and Madrid tournaments. Despite this, players are still entitled to an additional pass for a childcare provider.
The WTA said in a statement, We are unable to adopt a universal childcare policy due to varied rules governing childcare throughout our tournament host nations, while the WTA encourages tournaments to offer these services on an individual basis, and several of them do.
The WTA is pleased to assist the moms who are part of our Tour, and we will always be there to offer them the tools they need to manage the rigors of elite competition with parenthood.
“We prioritize player empowerment together with player performance and health. Consequently, the WTA assigns an athletic care manager to each player to supervise their postpartum and pregnancy-related safety, health, and performance.
