More and more of them are proving that becoming a mother doesn't necessarily mean the end of a career. At the Australian Open, it will be the turn of Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber, both former world No. 1s, to return to the Grand Slam.
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Caroline Wozniacki came out of her almost three and a half year retirement from the sport last summer and was immediately invited to the round of 16 of the US Open. The 33-year-old Dane, mother of two children aged two and a half and fifteen months, former world number 1 and winner of the 2018 Australian Open, is also in the running in Melbourne.
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Players at the highest level and mothers: all three are becoming less and less exceptional in women's tennis.
At the Australian Open there are eight in the main field with Elina Svitolina, Victoria Azarenka, Tatjana Maria (42nd), Taylor Townsend (80th) and Yanina Wickmayer (74th). Before them were Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams in particular.
“I’m really happy that players are coming back. I said it a while ago: I think we've broken the stereotype that you can't be a top player and have a family. That's it, it's over. And it keeps evolving. The proof is in the number of players” who make this choice, recently welcomed Azarenka (22nd), finally returning to the circuit in 2018 after giving birth to a son, Leo, at the age of 27 at the end of 2016, and who reached a Grand Slam final (US Open 2020) after becoming a mother.
Example
“I think it's great. It goes beyond sport. There are sometimes areas where there are fears. I hope it shows that a woman can have a career beyond sport and have children. And that it goes well, “That they come back well. The fact that female athletes show that is a good example,” says Gaël Monfils.
His wife Elina Svitolina is one of the players who returned to their career after having a child. With success: last April, six months after the birth of her child, the 29-year-old Ukrainian, now 23rd in the world, returned to the circuit and reached the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros and the last four at Wimbledon in quick succession in 2023.
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“As a leading women’s sport, we still have a lot of work to do in this area to continue making progress, not just at the highest level,” believes Azarenka, who is used to making her voice heard on social issues. We have an opportunity like never before. I hope we will provide the necessary resources for this.”
“We inspire each other,” reflects Kerber (35), currently back on the race track, almost a year after the birth of her daughter Liana. “Elina and Caro (Wozniacki) took over last year, Naomi and I here. I think we have a completely different mindset: we’re not really the important person in our lives now, there’s someone else.”
“More open, more patient, stronger”
“I still have that inner fire,” testifies the German with three Grand Slam titles. I hate losing, that doesn't change. What changes is that I turn the page faster because I have to. I’m trying to enjoy it more and not complicate things too much like before.”
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“Becoming a mother has changed my attitude a lot, that’s for sure. I feel like a different person. I'm much more open, much more patient. And I feel much stronger. “Since I came back, I don’t walk around with headphones on anymore, it’s a change in personality,” describes Osaka, who came to Australia for her return to competition without her six-month-old daughter Shai.
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“I have more confidence in myself as a person. I've never tried to have conversations with other players, I've built a big wall. “Today I notice that I interact with people,” estimates the 26-year-old Japanese woman.
“It’s like having two full-time jobs,” compares Wozniacki, who travels with her family. It's difficult to find the balance to be able to do both. Some days it's about survival. For others it works.”