It was a momentous milestone, brought about in no small part by an equally momentous champion, Billie Jean King. In 1973, the US Open became the first of the four Grand Slam tournaments to offer equal prize money to men and women competitors, a pioneering move that shook the sport and began to reshape it toward a more equitable future.
As we this year celebrate the 50th anniversary of this important US Open milestone, USOpen.org will feature a series of reflections upon other major markers of equality in tennis across this past half-century, each of which helped to nudge the sport forward toward the grand goal of a more level playing field for all. In this installment, we take a closer look at the ways that the rules of women's tennis have changed over the years in support of new mothers.
Imagine a workplace that rolled back a woman’s job status when she returned from maternity leave.
Then consider Serena Williams, who was world No. 1 and pregnant when she won the 2017 Australian Open. After giving birth in September and returning to “work” the following February, she saw a staggering drop in her ranking. As No. 453 on the computer, Williams entered Roland Garros in 2018 unseeded, but with a “special ranking,” the status usually afforded players who would’ve otherwise qualified for a tournament on merit but have missed extended periods of time due to injury–or less commonly until that point, pregnancy.
But, many argued, simply allowing players the ability to enter tournaments after giving birth did not go far enough to support them.
While the analogy is imperfect, the impact of, essentially, forcing players to restart a career after time off to give birth had a devastating impact on women’s tennis in the past. Simply put, for many years, women tended to stop their careers after they started families. But Williams’ experience in 2018 gave a renewed urgency to the conversation about changing the rules—globally, by the WTA.
In response to the situation, Katrina Adams, the then-president of the USTA, argued that players coming back from pregnancy should not be “penalized” for starting a family. In a June 2018 interview with The New York Times, she said the US Open would “revise the seedings if pregnancy is a factor in the current rankings of a player.”
“It’s the right thing to do for these mothers that are coming back,” she added. Williams, ranked No. 26 by the time the US Open rolled around, was bumped up to No. 17 in New York.
New WTA rules accommodating pregnant women and new mothers debuted in 2019–for the whole tour, not just in individual tournaments’ rulebooks. Most notably, the special seeding provision that Adams advocated for was created: If players’ protected rankings would’ve made them eligible for a seed, they enter the tournament as “additional seeds,” meaning that they won’t compete against other seeded players in first-round play. Granting additional seeds also means that women who have played continuously won’t get bumped by special-ranking players who have been out of competition.
Upon her return, a player is eligible to use her special ranking for seeding purposes at the first eight tournaments she plays.
This set of rules applies to women with a verified medical condition, pregnancy or “parental start” (an adoption, for example). And although the full slate of rules are complex, in general, women who return within a year of their “out of competition” start date can use their special ranking for entry into up to eight tournaments. Those out for longer, all within three years of her child’s birth, can use it for up to 12 tournaments in a one-year period.
The fight for fairness wages on, with players continuing to push to make tennis an even more family-friendly “workplace” for women.
Just this spring, Elina Svitolina returned after the October birth of her and Gael Monfils' daughter, Skaï, won a title, and reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals. And Angelique Kerber, the latest former world No. 1 player to give birth—to daughter Liana, in February—is setting her sights on the 2024 Olympics.
"More and more players are showing that you can return to the tennis business as a mother,” Kerber has said. “I want to be one of them and show that both are possible.”
