Taylor Townsend Explains Why She Was 'Terrified' After Becoming Pregnant
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Taylor Townsend is one of the mothers on the WTA Tour after giving birth to a son a few years ago, but parenthood was not something she had planned for her life.
Her son, Adyn, was born on March 14th, 2021. The adorable child appears regularly on Townsend's Instagram page, and her love for Adyn could not be more evident by how she speaks about him.
However, unlike many other players on the WTA Tour who deliberately stepped away from tennis to have children before sometimes returning, Townsend has admitted in a recent interview that she did not want to be a mother.
In an interview with ESSENCE, Townsend opened up about being terrified after finding out she was pregnant. The American discovered the surprising news during a tournament and hid it from others for several months afterward.
"So when I found out that I was expecting, I was terrified. One of the things that I always wanted, and I always said, was when I’m done, I just want to have my freedom. I don’t want to be tied down to anything. I just want to be able to move how I want to move. And so I really did not want kids."
"I was so scared [laughs], and I was like, what the heck? It was so unexpected. I was actually in the middle of playing an event, and I had to put on a mask and a face... I had to hide it for months up until after the US Open in 2020, which was my last event."
Townsend is among the most cheerful and friendly personalities on the WTA Tour. She has also never been afraid to be authentic and speak honestly in interviews, as demonstrated by her refreshingly candid recollection of becoming pregnant.
Becoming a parent comes as a shock to many people. How Townsend went from never wanting to have children to being an excellent example of how a player can have a child and return to professional tennis is very admirable.
WTA stars going on maternity leave and then returning to tennis have become increasingly common. Belinda Bencic was away for most of 2024 before coming back in the closing stages of the season.
Bencic's superb level in 2025, just a few months after returning from maternity leave, has surprised many. The Swiss had an impressive run to the fourth round of the 2025 Australian Open, ultimately losing to Coco Gauff in three sets.
However, what she achieved in Abu Dhabi a few weeks later was even more impressive. Bencic won the WTA 500 tournament, beating former Wimbledon champions Elena Rybakina and Marketa Vondrousova along the way.
Petra Kvitova will become the latest player to return from maternity leave at next week's 2025 ATX Open in Austin. She missed all of 2024 and took more time to come back than Bencic after a complicated pregnancy that required a C-section.
The presence of the two-time Wimbledon winner in Austin will undoubtedly attract attention to the tournament and help compensate for Madison Keys' loss, who was forced to withdraw because of WTA rules about the number of Top 10 players at 250-level events.
