Victoria Azarenka hadn’t won a game for over a year before coming to New York.
Tsvetana Pironkova had not played in a tournament since 2017.
Now both are perhaps the most unlikely players in the US Open quarter-finals.
Azarenka, 31, and Pironkova, 32, have made incredible comebacks, all while finding a way to balance playing tennis with parenting small children during a pandemic.
They are not alone. There were nine mothers in the main tournament draw this year. Kim Clijsters, Vera Zvonareva, Tatjana Maria, Kateryna Bondarenko, Patricia Maria Tig and Olga Govortsova have been eliminated, but Azarenka, Pironkova and Serena Williams, perhaps the most famous tennis mother of all, remain. Zvonareva is still alive in the doubles and will play the semifinal on Tuesday.
Each is vying to become the fourth woman in the Open era to win a major title as a mother, joining Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong and Clijsters in the history books. Williams, 38, has come close on four occasions since her return from childbirth, with second place finishes at Wimbledon and the US Open in both 2018 and 2019.
“I’m so happy that there are so many moms at the event, obviously, because I’m one of them,” Williams said after her win on Saturday. “I just have a whole new respect for moms.”
As a 23-time Grand Slam champion, Williams’ story has been told many times. She won the 2017 Australian Open title while pregnant with her daughter Olympia. He defeated his sister, Venus, who later joked that it wasn’t fair because “two on one”. Serena then returned in March 2018, just six months after a complicated birth. She made it to the Wimbledon final shortly thereafter and has since attempted to hit Court’s record of 24 main titles.
Azarenka and Pironkova’s journeys were less celebrated but equally inspiring.
Two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka was one of the best players in the game, having won consecutive titles at Indian Wells and Miami in 2016, before walking away due to her pregnancy. She gave birth to her son, Leo, in December of that year and returned to competitions the following June, advancing to the fourth round at Wimbledon in her second tournament. Following a breakup with Leo’s father later that summer, she was embroiled in a controversial custody battle that significantly impacted her ability to travel out of the state of California.
Azarenka was forced to retire from the 2017 US Open and has since been unable to play consistently, as she continues to fight in court. His erratic schedule resulted in lackluster performance and his level of play suffered greatly. She is not allowed to give many details about the legal proceedings, but she has said on several occasions that one day she will write a book about it.
Due to the dispute, Azarenka was unable to play the Australian swing on the schedule for early 2020. She has since said she had considered retiring from the sport but decided to give it one last try. He played in an exhibition tournament in June in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky once the season kicked off last month. He lost in the first round.
Then she arrived in New York – with her son and mother in tow – for the two tournament bubble, and hasn’t lost since. Azarenka passed the Western & Southern Open draw in the final, winning the title after Naomi Osaka retired before the match.
“It’s my first title as a mom,” she said after the tournament. “So that makes it special.”
Prior to her Monday game against Karolina Muchova, Azarenka hadn’t lost a set at the US Open. He put together dominant performance after dominant performance, including a win over number 5 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the second round. During his fourth round match against number 20 seeded Muchova, he reacted after losing the opening set by a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.
She will face number 16 seeded Elise Mertens in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, with an away match to her first major semifinal since 2013 on the way.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity to play,” she said on the pitch after the win on Monday. “I know it’s such a difficult time for everyone in the world and to be able to have a Grand Slam tournament and have the opportunity to do what I love to do, I’m just very grateful and I don’t take anything for granted. I’m really happy to to be here. “
Pironkova, a 2010 Wimbledon semi-finalist, made her final WTA Tour appearance at the All England Club in 2017 before being sidelined for her pregnancy. She gave birth to her son, Alexander, in April 2018 and was done with tennis, until he was.
“I guess I just need to distance ourselves a little bit for about two years,” he said this week. “Gradually, I started to really lose the tour, I started watching more tournaments, I started following the players. I started making plans in my head, looking at the calendar, which tournament suited me best.”
Pironkova announced her intention to return to competition on March 11, a day before the season’s suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic. Unranked and having not played an event for more than three years, she was able to use her protected ranking for the US Open and came to New York with little expectations.
Like Azarenka, Pironkova dismantled her opponents in sets in a row and knocked out two-time senior champion Garbine Muguruza, the No. 10, and Donna Vekic, seeded 18, along the way. He credits his son for his success.
“Everything changes,” he said about becoming a parent. “Your priorities have nothing to do with what they did before. Nothing is the same, really. Right now, I’m just happy to play. Having the opportunity for him to look at me also makes me very happy.
“I don’t know how to really explain it. It’s just great to play without that extra pressure I had on myself before. Before it was, like, almost [a] life or death situation for me to win a game. Right now, that’s not quite the case. It’s just fun to be on the pitch. “
With her win over Alize Cornet on Monday, Pironkova clinched a spot in the quarter-finals against Williams. The two will line up on Wednesday. The match will mark the deepest bout in a major between two mothers in the open era according to the WTA.
“To play such a champion, such a legend of the game, is a huge honor, of course,” Pironkova said on Monday. “I am looking forward to that match because I know the feeling will be very special. I will try to do my best and I can’t wait.”
While all three of the remaining moms would like to hoist the trophy next weekend at Arthur Ashe Stadium, it seems clear to Azarenka that there is more to it than winning or losing.
“By identifying myself or other players as mothers, I think that’s not the only thing we are,” Azarenka said earlier this week. “I think I’m a mother [is part of it, but] we are also tennis players. We are also women who have dreams, goals and passions.
“Everyone has their own priority. They have their own list of where they stand as a mother, but we’re not – it’s not as soon as be a mother. Your life doesn’t stop. My life just started when I became a mother. I’ll really say it openly.
“So I think I see the rise of women being able to fulfill their dreams, as well as balancing motherhood, I think they are all heroes. I really, really appreciate them all. And I hope this continues to go where the women are. inspired to do what they love to do, but still be able to pursue what they want.Because I think for children, and I hope for my child, it’s inspiring that I still want to do what I want to do, and I work hard for it. I want to be an example for my son “.
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