MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Motherhood is becoming more and more commonplace in professional tennis with 20 moms on the WTA Tour, including six competing in the Miami Open singles main draw over the past week.

There was even an All-Mom second-round match between former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka and former No. 3 Elina Svitolina.

Osaka, who won the match, is back on tour after giving birth to daughter Shai last summer. Svitolina and tennis-playing husband Gael Monfils welcomed daughter, Skai, in October 2022, she returned to the tour in April 2023 and in the next few months reached the quarters at the French Open and semifinals at Wimbledon.

“I remember watching Elina playing Wimbledon while I was pregnant, and thinking, 'I want to be there, too, one day,' ” Osaka said. “I feel a great deal of respect for all the moms on tour. I’ m really grateful to have so many moms around me, and happy that my daughter is the youngest in the bunch, so I am able to ask questions when I need to.”

The WTA Tour has taken steps in recent years to empower players considering pregnancy, expectant mothers, and mothers on tour with the support of sponsor Hologic, a leading medical technology company focused on women’s health.

Among the initiatives:

Special protected ranking so that a player on maternity leave has a special ranking upon her return. Players can enter 12 tournaments over a three-year period on a special ranking. Additionally, returning players are guaranteed to not face another seed in the first round. That applies to the first eight WTA tournaments she plays upon her return.

A team of women’s health specialists, known as the Hologic WTA Health Taskforce, dedicated to advancing the science and guidelines for female athletes and active women globally, specifically developing health protocols for female athletes returning to competition. Among the issues addressed: fertility, family planning, pelvic floor therapy, proper sports bra fit, preventative screenings and bone health.

And a Global Women’s Health Fund established by the WTA Foundation to provide 1 million women with prenatal vitamins in low and middle-income countries in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Motherhood is nothing new in professional tennis.

Margaret Court was a 21-time Grand Slam champion before giving birth to her first child, Daniel, in 1972. She was the first player to win a Grand Slam title as a mother, coming back the next year to win titles at the Australian Open, French Open and US Open to bring her total to 24 Slam titles.

Evonne Goolagong won the 1977 Australian Open after giving birth earlier that year and went on to win Wimbledon in 1980. More recently, former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters won three Grand Slam titles after becoming a mother.

After giving birth to daughter Jada in 2008, Clijsters announced her comeback and won the 2009 US Open as a wild card, beating Venus and Serena Williams. She added a U.S. Open title in 2010 and Australian Open title in 2011.

Clijsters, reached by phone, is encouraged to see the changes for mothers on tour.

“I had help and guidance from aunts and family members, but nothing from the sport itself,” Clijsters said. “One of the biggest changes implemented when Serena (Williams) became pregnant was the three-year special ranking opportunity. So, if you’re 10 in the world and decide to have a baby, you can freeze that ranking and come back and pick up where you left off, which is a huge difference. My ranking dropped to almost nothing. I had to start over.”

She said sponsors also have a different mindset about athlete moms, health insurance has improved, and trainers now specialize in women’s body issues.

“Last year when I went to the Miami tournament, they had a specially trained physio that was there for after-birth, making sure the core is strong, all the muscles down there,” she said. “There’s a lot more awareness of issues mothers face.”

Clijsters said when she made her return older players approached her and told her they admired her decision to have a child and they had resisted because were worried about their prize money, sponsors and ranking.

“I just followed my gut instinct, I knew I wanted to be a mom,” Clijsters said. “But for other women, that decision is very stressful.”

Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slams, including the 2017 Australian Open, which she won while she was pregnant with daughter Alexis Olympia. She had two pulmonary embolisms during labor, which delayed her return to the tennis tour. She won one title, the 2020 Auckland Open, after her return.

Victoria Azarenka, like Clijsters a former No. 1, had won two Australian Opens before giving birth to her son, Leo, in 2016. She returned to tennis in 2017 and in 2020 was part of the historic trio of moms to make the US Open quarterfinals with Serena Williams and Tsvetana Pironkova.

Azarenka, reached by phone in between her son’s hockey practices, is part of the WTA taskforce to empower mothers on tour. She also continues to win on the court. The three-time Miami Open champion on Tuesday advanced to the tournament semifinals with a 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 6-3 win over Yulia Putintseva. At 34, Azarenka is the second-oldest semifinalist in Miami Open history behind Venus Williams (36).

She is happy to see the progress being made, but believes a lot more needs to be done.

“The shocking revelation for me when I was pregnant was that we didn’t even have a category in the rules that separated long term injury from pregnancy,” Azarenka said. “Then Serena got pregnant, it was big news, and we were breaking the stereotype that you had to pick motherhood or tennis. It’s quite evident how much has changed, how many mothers are on tour in a small period of time.”

Azarenka would like more sponsors to invest in the WTA’s motherhood initiatives. She wants to create financial support for women who want to take a maternity break, especially lower-ranked players.

“Not everybody is as fortunate as I was, as Serena was, as Naomi is in terms of financial situation in terms of coming back and having help when you travel with your kids so you can continue to train,” she said. “Our bodies are our money makers, this is our job, and you have to be in top physical shape and it takes a while to come back after you have a baby.

“When there’s a will there’s a way, and that’s my goal is to push those issues and make things better for tennis mothers in the future.”

Moms on WTA Tour

Magraita Betova

Kateryna Volodko

Olga Govortsova

Sesil Karatanchekva

Andreea Mitu

Alicija Rosolska

Elena Svitolina

Caroline Wozniacki

Angie Kerber

Tatjana Maria

Naomi Osaka

Victoria Azarenka

Taylor Townsend

Yanina Wickmayer

Amandine Hesse

Evgeniya Rodina

Patricia Maria Tig

Vera Zvonareva

Anastasija Sevastova

Irina Ramialison

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