Big Comebacks After Having Children

The 2023 U.S. Open women’s draw featured two big returns. Both Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina were back playing again at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, New York City. That’s after each had taken time off from the pro tour, during which each had given birth to children. The 33-year-old Wozniacki had actually retired from the professional tour in 2020 but smashed away that decision this year, Meanwhile, 28-year-old Svitolina had stepped away only temporarily in 2022 with the full intention of returning. But both are the latest players to do what’s becoming more and more common on the women’s professional tennis tour—taking time off to give birth and then bouncing back successfully. And that’s a great thing to see not just for tennis but also in general for society.

Wozniacki Reaches Fourth Round After ‘Unretiring’

Wozniacki has had quite a “wild” run since essentially saying “I’m back” in a June 29, 2023, article for Vogue. Since the Danish former Number One in the world was no longer ranked high enough to automatically qualify for tournaments, she had to rely on wild card entries to play in tournaments at Montreal, Cincinnati, and then the 2023 U.S. Open. She had retired three years ago in large part because rheumatoid arthritis was one opponent that she was struggled to beat at the time. Since then she’s given birth to two children, Olivia Wozniacki Lee on June 11, 2021, and James Wozniacki Lee on October 24, 2022, with the father being former NBA player David Lee. But it turned out that retirement wasn’t a set point for Wozniacki, so to speak.

It wasn’t a set point that Wozniacki would do well at the U.S. Open either. After all, playing at a Grand Slam event isn’t exactly like doing a dance on TikTok. You can’t simply jump back on the court and expect the same results after a three-year absence. The opponents, you know, are pretty darn good. Nonetheless, Wozniacki has strung together quite a run in the ensuing two months. On Wednesday, she ousted two-time Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova, and two days later. edged Jennifer Brady in a thrilling three-setter comeback after being a set down. That put her in the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since the 2018 French Open.

Svitolina Reaches Third Round Before Falling to Number 3 Seed Pegula

Meanwhile, Svitolina, who is from Ukraine and was ranked Number Three in the world in 2017, has also had quite a smashing return to the tour this year. In March 2022, she had started what she had planned to be a temporary break from the tour, after suffering back pain and dealing with all the emotions surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yeah, it can be quite stressful when much bigger country tries to invade and conquer your much smaller home country. During that year she became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, Skai Monfils, in October. If you are wondering why the last name Monfils may sound tennis-ly familiar, Svitolina’s husband is Gaël Monfils, the French professional tennis player.

Svitolina described her time off from tennis as real time off from tennis: “I didn’t play for nine months at all.” Therefore, she didn’t know what would happen when she commenced her return to the tour. “I always expect the worst,” she said. The return began at the beginning of this year. “I starting doing physical exercises on January 2 of this year,” she explained. “It was important to strengthen my core and work on the small muscles of my legs and back.”

She continued with, “I began spending more and more time in the gym. First 20 minutes then 30 then 40 minutes then one hour and then 1.5 hours three to four times a day.”

Svitolina returned to the tour at the Charleston Open in April of this year. Svitolina mentioned that the mental part of returning was actually much more challenging than the physical part. “I was not used to the playing pressure,” she recalled. “The only thing that you can do [to regain that experience] is to play matches. I lost some tough matches that I would in the past have won. Each time, I tried to do better the next match.”

Oh, she did better. In fact, since then she’s managed to win a her 17th career WTA title in Strasbourg, reach the quarterfinals of the French Open and the semifinals of Wimbledon, break back into the Top 30 world rankings, and secure a Number 26 seed at the U.S. Open. Svitolina recalled, “I was not 100% satisfied with my performance at the French but surprised by Wimbledon run.”

Yeah, her list of tennis accomplishments for 2023 is longer than what most players would ever achieve in their entire careers. That was quite a baseline for her entering the 2023 U.S. Open where she cruised to a first round win over Anna-LenaFriedsam, 6-3, 6-1, before defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in three sets to reach the third round. Jessica Pegula did end Svitolina’s run on Saturday in a hard-fought three-setter. But there’s no shame in losing to the third-seeded Pegula.

Townsend Upsets the 19th-Seeded Haddad Maia

Wozniacki and Svitolina haven’t been the only mothers to make a racket—in a good way—at the 2023 U.S. Open. American Taylor Townsend’s singles run was successful to a “T.” She reached the third round after upsetting and upending 19th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-6(1), 7-5. Townsend did fall 7-6(0), 6-3 in the next round to Karolina Muchova who is currently ranked Number 10 in the world. Townsend has had double the success at the 2023 U.S. Open, though, reaching the round of 16 in women’s doubles with partner Leylah Annie Fernandez.

Townsend is a little over two years out from giving birth to her son, Adyn Aubrey, on March 14, 2021. As you’ll see (or C), that was a completely new experience for Townsend in many ways. Townsend explained, “Before that I never had injuries and wasn’t used to being dependent on others.” But after undergoing a Caesarean Section (otherwise known as a C-section), she “struggled to even walk,” in her words. “The C-section had to heal. I had to depend on others and was forced to ask for help.” She indicated, “I didn’t really return to working out until my son was almost 6 months old. I breast fed for about 10 months and pumped for 2 months.” She got back on the tennis court in November 2021 and then returned to the tour in April 2022. Upon her return, it was tempting for her to compare her playing with her past performance. Townsend related, “I was fighting the past, the past player that I was. So, I had to manage expectations, remove the old stuff and take it from where I am right now and move forward. It was about just being present.”

And being present has been quite a present for Townsend. At the 2022 French Open, she reached the women’s doubles semifinals for the first time in her career, and at the 2022 U.S. Open, she made the women’s doubles final, helping her reach a new career-high in the world’s women’s doubles rankings, cracking the Top 5 in June 2023.

Eventually, the whole experience seem s to have made Townsend an even better tennis player. “Over the last 18 months, so much has gone on, so much learning and understanding,” she said. “Having my son changed my life, helped me as a person and helped me better understand myself.” She added, “I am now a better tennis player, happier and more clear with more clarity to be better.”

Azarenka Reached the 2023 Australian Open Semifinals

The 2023 U.S. Open didn’t quite meet expectations for Victoria Azarenka, who is from Belarus and has won the Australian Open twice and been in the U.S. Open Finals three times. She entered this year’s U.S. Open ranked Number 18 in the world. So, it was quite an upset when lost 6-2, 6-2 to China’s Lin Zhu in the second round. Nevertheless, Azarenka return to the tour in April 2018 after giving birth to her son Leo in December 2016 has already been a success. She has climbed back in the Top 20 World rankings. This year she reached the semifinals of the 2023 Australian Open for the first time in 10 years, defeating tenth-seeded Madison Keys and third-seeded Jessica Pegula along the way. She’s also added more and more tournament titles to her resume.

When Azarenka became pregnant, she expected all along to return to the tour. “It was not a matter of if I was coming back but rather when,” Azarenka said. “I did not know how my body would react. So there were a lot of unknowns. Everyone has different challenges.” She did mention that, “What was surprising was how I active was able to be while pregnant. I was still working out on the gym when 37 weeks pregnant and didn’t think that would be possible. All along, I lived in the moment and enjoyed the process. When pregnant, I didn’t think about what will happen with the comeback.”

Azarenka credited a very cool Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in helping with her return. When stepping away from the tour for pregnancy or an injury, you are able to freeze your world ranking for two to three years. depending on your situation. This doesn’t mean that you retain your world ranking. But it does mean that you can use that frozen ranking—assuming that it is high enough—to qualify for Grand Slam tournaments and certain other tournaments so that you don’t have to play in qualifying rounds.

Maria Reached the 2022 Wimbledon Semifinals

Tatjana Maria, a 36-year-old German professional tennis player currently ranked Number 47 in the world, mentioned that the frozen ranking has particular limits, “It holds for only for two Grand Slams, previously only for 8 tournaments, now for 12 tournaments.” So, as you build back your rankings, you have to use the wild cards judiciously and not—well—wildly. Moreover, Maria, whose had two children—the first, a daughter named Charlotte on December 20, 2013, and the second a daughter named Cecilia on April 2, 2021—made the mistake of actually returning to the tour too early. “I came back two to three weeks too early. I didn’t realize that you had to be out for one year completely.”

Maria’s return after her second child has been quite successful as well. At the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first mother-of-two to make the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament since Margaret Court did so at the 1975 Wimbledon. This year she won her third tournament title in her career.

In recent years, the women’s tennis tour has made it easier for players to have children. But players have indicated that additional steps can be taken. For example, Azarenka pointed out, “Financially, I had a lot of help. It may be tougher for lower ranked players financially to step away from the game. I hope that will change in the future.” And Maria mentioned, “Some more day care would be great. There is only daycare offered at the four Grand Slam tournaments.”

All of the players did indicate that balancing time with their children and time practicing and playing remains a challenge. You’ve got to essentially stay on the ball with both. But players like Wozniacki, Svitolina, Townsend, Azarenka, Maria, and Serena Williams have shown that striking such a balance is doable as long as the proper systems and help are in place. This should apply to many other professions as well. It’s quite a double fault to serve up the old-fashioned idea that you somehow can’t balance being a successful mother and a successful professional. Instead, it would be better to design and implement systems that will help everyone do both well.