Following Serena’s maternity leave, The U.S. Open will no longer penalize women for becoming pregnant
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The U.S. Open, the second biggest tournament of the tennis year, will no longer penalize players whose rankings have tumbled because of maternity leave, starting with this year’s tournament in August. The decision comes following criticism of last month’s French Open for not seeding Serena Williams, a three-time champion, in her return to competition after giving birth to a daughter in September.
Katrina Adams, president and chief executive of the U.S. Tennis Association, confirmed to the Washington Post that the tournament would factor in absences for pregnancy and childbirth in issuing its seeds starting with the upcoming 2018 tournament.
During Williams’s maternity leave, her ranking slid from No. 1 overall in the world to 454th. In entering the French unseeded, instead of as one of the tournament’s top 32, she was at risk of facing one of the top players in the world in her opening match.
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Despite being gone more than a year, Williams advanced to fourth round of the French Open, before being forced to withdraw due to an injury hours before facing Maria Sharapova. Williams is currently ranked 183rd following her run at Roland Garros.
“With Serena, you’re looking at one of arguably the greatest players of all time,” Adams said. “There’s a level of respect there. But it’s not about Serena; it’s about the accomplishments of a Serena — a number one player, with 23 Grand Slams.”
While the U.S. Open appears to have headed off the issue, the next major tournament on the schedule—Wimbledon—appears set to penalize Williams for the time off as well as it appears she will not be given what is called a “privileged draw” at the year’s signature tournament, and that hasn’t set well in the tennis community.
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‘I’d put her somewhere between 1 and 10, 1 and 16 at the worst,” John McEnroe said to the Daily Mail. McEnroe, a tennis icon, will be doing color commentary of Wimbledon for the BBC.
“I don’t think there would be a player that would complain, especially the top ones, if she was one of the top eight,” he added, noting that an unseeded Serena could be more unfair to the top seeds. “Why in the world would they want to play her in the first, second, third round? Nor should they, in my opinion.”
Williams and the rest of the field at Wimbledon will find out where they stand when the draw is revealed on Wednesday.
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