Serena lauds rule changes to protect tennis mothers

ABU DHABI: Serena Williams has described the new changes to the ‘Special Ranking’ rule introduced by the WTA for 2019 as “great” and believes the move will encourage more players to take a break from the tour to have children then come back to resume their careers.

Under the new rules, returning mothers who have a special ranking that would earn them a seeded position can be drawn as an ‘additional seed’ at tournaments, meaning they would not be able to face a seed in the opening round of a tournament. This change also ensures that no seed will get bumped as a result of a returning mother given a protected seeding. Williams, along with other mothers on tour like former world number one Victoria Azarenka, had been advocating for such rule changes that would ease the transition back for players following the birth of their children.

“I think it’s great,” Williams said of the new rule changes during a press conference in Abu Dhabi ahead of an exhibition match against her sister Venus on Thursday. “Women that are younger can go out there and have kids and not have to worry about it and not have to wait ‘til the twilight of their years to have children and I think it’s a really great rule.”