Girls’s Tennis Gamers Getting Parental Advantages, Paid Maternal Depart

Victoria Azarenka

Victoria Azarenka is a notable determine in skilled girls’s tennis, profitable the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013 along with scoring two Olympic medals.

Azarenka and her former boyfriend, Billy McKeague, welcomed a son named Leo in 2016. She introduced her being pregnant with an X submit that July, saying she was “really impressed by feminine athletes who return to the very prime of their sport after having youngsters, and I plan to do precisely that.”

She returned to the court docket in 2017 and received her first match again, in accordance with BBC. Two years later, the Belarusian athlete advised the outlet that she thought getting pregnant would finish her profession.

“I used to be scared, it wasn’t simple,” she advised the outlet. “I knew I used to be going to come back again, however my first thought was, ‘Oh my god, I am by no means going to play tennis once more.'”

Nevertheless, mentioned she felt “stronger” after giving beginning.

“I am certain numerous girls will not be capable to relate to me, however I felt so a lot better after (the being pregnant),” she mentioned. “I felt a lot stronger bodily, and my physique grew to become so a lot better. I felt like my physique lastly matured into being a girl.”

Azarenka has publicly pushed for parental advantages for Girls’s Tennis Affiliation gamers. She and Serena Williams have been amongst those that campaigned to guard the rankings of gamers who go on maternity depart. The affiliation up to date its insurance policies in 2019 about rankings and maternity depart.

She later advocated for maternity pay for Girls’s Tennis Affiliation members in a 2024 interview with BBC Sports activities.

“There’s much more that has to vary, and I hope that we’re heading in the right direction to do it,” Azarenka advised the outlet. “I feel the vital half is to vary the monetary a part of maternity depart. I feel that may be an enormous win for girls on the whole, so I hope we discover the sources to have the ability to try this. I feel that may be unimaginable.”

Azarenka mentioned gamers with decrease rankings may benefit from such a coverage.

“I’ve, I am guessing, extra monetary safety than some gamers who could also be outdoors the highest 100 and perhaps have the identical wishes and ambitions to have a toddler and proceed to do their job,” she mentioned.