Aryna Sabalenka opened up about the respect she has for active players that are also mothers following her Wimbledon return.
Motherhood is a very tricky question in women's sports because it's a rather unique situation in the life of a woman. Pregnancy takes time and getting back into playing shape also takes time which makes it a rather big sacrifice for any athlete.
Men don't have to deal with any of that as they can carry on playing without any problems making parenthood as an athlete a very tricky thing to handle as a woman. We've seen players give birth and return to the top on the WTA Tour, but it's not very easy because tennis is an ever-evolving sport and playing catch-up isn't exactly ideal.
Sabalenka herself isn't a mother yet but plans to be and emphasis on plans to be. Planned parenthood is something women athletes have to do. For Sabalenka, being a mother and still playing good tennis is an incredible achievement.
I really respect them a lot. That must be really tough to balancing having a kid and also, like, playing tennis. For me, like, all my focus would be on tennis. For them, they have to kind of balance it, which is not really easy. I really respect they know how to do it and they do well.
It's also give me belief if one day I want to be a mom that I still have chances to come back and play tennis. So thank you for that (smiling).
Tatjana Maria is probably the most famous tennis mother after making a late comeback to tennis and putting together a Wimbledon run last year. Elina Svitolina is a mother as well and there are more. Caroline Wozniacki is going to be another one after making her comeback to tennis later this year.
Ashleigh Barty joined the mother's club recently though she retired from the sport before giving birth.
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