WTA increases rankings protection for returning mothers

Previously, the WTA rule book governed maternity and injury/illness by the same rules, meaning that the dispensation for pregnancy was the same as for a sprained ankle.

After a season in which Serena Williams’s return from pregnancy forced officials to make on-the-fly adjustments to tennis’s rules, the WTA this month updated its rule book to give mothers more flexibility. Williams’s clothing choices also spurred a clarification that allows catsuits like the one she wore at the French Open. Previously, the WTA rule book governed maternity and injury/illness by the same rules, meaning that the dispensation for pregnancy was the same as for a sprained ankle.

Now, pregnancy will receive more consideration. A returning mother will have up to three years after the birth of her child to be eligible for a special ranking to gain entry into tournaments. The maximum had been two years after her last competition.

Players returning from childbirth or injury who were out of competition for 52 weeks or longer can also use that special ranking for 12 tournaments, up from eight. At her first eight tournaments, a returning player who was ranked in a range that would have earned her a seeding when she left the tour will be given an “additional seed.” That guarantees her an unseeded opponent in the first round, and does not bump any players who earned a seeding from their current rankings.

The topic of special seedings received attention because of Williams, who returned to the tour in March six months after giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. Ranked No. 1 at the time of her pregnancy, Williams was unseeded at the first three tournaments she played this year, including the French Open.

But Wimbledon, which has frequently exercised its discretion to change seedings, made Williams, a seven-time singles champion there who was ranked 183rd at the time, the 25th seed. She subsequently made the final. The United States Open, which had announced its own policy of giving special consideration to mothers in its seedings, put Williams at 17th; she again made the final.

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