‘Tennis has a blueprint’ for female players to succeed after becoming mothers

Tennis has a “blueprint” for female players to succeed in the game after becoming mothers, returning greats have said.

Johanna Konta, Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki all expressed their excitement at being back on the grass courts in SW19 for invitation doubles on Tuesday.

Belgian four-time Grand Slam singles title winner Clijsters and British player Konta are retired, but Danish star Wozniacki has recently announced her return to tennis after leaving the game in 2020.

The former British female number one Konta departed from tennis in 2021 with four WTA titles to her name.

While Konta, who has a 10-month-old daughter, was adamant that she is “very committed” to retirement, she spoke highly of other mothers who have successfully come back to play tennis.

“I think we’re lucky in tennis that we’ve had quite a few, a good handful of women who have successfully come back,” she said after she was asked about the relationship between motherhood and the game.

The British star, who was ranked as high as fourth in the world and reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2017, added: “I think tennis is actually quite accommodating just because we’ve had a blueprint for it for the last number of years.

“Wimbledon does an especially good job. We have a creche here on site for babies and my little girl has been in there as well, which is brilliant.

“All I know is I’ve seen the likes of Kim Clijsters, we’re going to see the likes of Caroline Wozniacki now, I’ve seen the likes of Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams who are mothers and who’ve come back, and who have absolutely smashed it as well.”

Asked if any part of her wished she was still playing, Konta said: “A part of me will always miss it just because the kind of adrenaline and the kind of life that you live as a successful professional tennis player you can’t replicate in any part of your life.”

She continued: “I’m absolutely to the moon in love with my daughter but I think the act of motherhood is actually really tough.

“It’s really monotonous, boring, and compared to what I used to do which is play on Centre Court and travel the world and live a very selfish existence, to then be thrown into a very selfless existence is a really hard transition and it’s not fun, but I would choose it every single day over Centre Court.”

Clijsters, who made two separate comebacks to tennis, one in 2009 after becoming a mother and another in 2020 after the birth of her two sons, said balancing the “motherly instinct” with playing the sport professionally was “hard” initially.

She said: “When you get into a situation like that when you’re a mother but then you also become a professional athlete again you have an expectation of how you did it before and the time that goes into it.

“And that was for me hard at the beginning to balance. Am I going to put six, seven hours a day focusing on myself again? And then how do I feel about it to leave your daughter or your kids behind?”

She added: “Sometimes you have to leave your hotel room when your baby is sick, and those are moments that you don’t see on court. ”

Clijsters said she felt a “connection” to the mothers on court, expressing her excitement for Elina Svitolina who capped a brilliant first week at Wimbledon to make it back-to-back quarter-finals at Grand Slams following the birth of her first child.

Former world number one Wozniacki announced her intention to return to tennis after a three-year retirement in June.

Wozniacki, who won the 2018 Australian Open and was runner-up in two US Open finals in 2009 and 2014, is targeting her Grand Slam return at Flushing Meadows later this year.

I think it’s going to be a good experience for us as a family to have the kids see a little bit of the world and meeting people and seeing cultures as well

She told reporters at Wimbledon: “I’m excited to come back, excited to be playing.”

The star said she wanted to get back on court after the birth of her son and found herself hitting well following a few bi-weekly sessions.

“I think it’s going to be a good experience for us as a family to have the kids see a little bit of the world and meeting people and seeing cultures as well,” she added.

“It’s such a great learning experience for them so young.”

Wimbledon entered the quarter-finals stage on Tuesday.

Ukrainian Elina Svitolina will face world number one Iga Swiatek and seven-time champion Novak Djokovic will take on Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev in the last eight.

Swiatek has spoken up for Ukraine and wears a blue and yellow ribbon, earning praise from Svitolina who called her a “great champion” and a “great person”.