Working moms are all the rage in Flushing Meadows this year.
Just take a look at the 2020 US Open women's singles draw. Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Tsvetana Pironkova made history on Labor Day at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center by becoming the first trio of mothers to reach the quarterfinals of the same Grand Slam. All three worked overtime to advance with three-set wins.
There were nine mothers in the draw when the tournament got underway on Aug. 31.
"I'm so happy that there are so many moms in the event, obviously, because I'm one," Williams, who booked her quarterfinal spot with a win over Maria Sakkari, said earlier in the tournament. "I just have a totally new respect for moms."
Azarenka completed the history-making trio with a fourth-round win over Karolina Muchova, under the lights in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
"I’m so proud of the ladies. It’s incredible," she said in a TV interview with ESPN. "I’m just really happy to see that. I hope we all keep going as far as possible. It’s inspiring. I hope it’s inspiring for other women that they continue to go for their dreams and don’t only identify as mothers, but continue to do what they want to do.”
"That’s not the only thing that we are," Azarenka also said this week."We are also women who have dreams and goals and passions."
WATCH: Super-moms at the 2020 US Open
Williams and Azarenka, who squared off in the 2012 and 2013 US Open finals, might have expected to be around at this stage of the tournament. But Pironkova, who had not played a WTA event in over three years, certainly did not.
After her Round-of-16 win over Alize Cornet, she was asked how motherhood has helped her tennis game. "Well, everything in mothering, I guess it's helped me," she replied in a virtual press conference. "Obviously you become a different person. You don't focus on yourself that much anymore—your focus is primarily on your child. And I guess that's a good thing (smiling). I'm a lot more organized, as well. Mentally, I have more mental endurance, also. Physically, I know my body better."
With Pironkova to play Williams in the quarterfinals, we're guaranteed to have at least one mother in the final four.
Only three moms have ever won a Slam in the Open era: Kim Clijsters, Evonne Goolagong and Margaret Court. Williams, 38; Azarenka, 31; and Pironkova, 32 each hope to be the fourth.
PHOTOS: Moms at the 2020 US Open
