As United States l’Open of tennis of this anomalous 2020 has already been baptized as “the march of mothers”. Nine tennis players who have had children started the tournament in the main draw and three, Victoria Azarenka, Tsvetana Pironkova and Serena Williams, have reached the quarterfinals, an unprecedented milestone in the history of the big ones, who so far have only won three mothers: Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong and Kim Clijsters, as published today El Periódico de Catalunya, from the same publishing group of Diari de Girona.
It is not that motherhood is what defines them exclusively, as Azarenka insisted on remembering these days, but in the struggle of so many, and in her successes, the Belarusian sees something clearly inspiring. “We are not just mothers, we are also tennis players, we are also women who have dreams, goals and passions,” said the former number one, who before arriving in New York had not won games for a year and at 31 take the Cincinnati title contested in the Flushing Meadows bubble after the withdrawal of Naomi Osaka.
Fight for custody
The two-time Australian champion, whose complicated struggle for custody of her son limited her moves outside of California and negatively impacted her return to competition shortly after returning in 2017, has defined as “heroines” all these colleagues, increasingly, “able to fulfill their dreams and balance them with motherhood.” “I hope this continues that women are inspired to do what they love, but also able to pursue what they want,” she said these days.
Victoria Azarenka and her son Leo watching Naomi Osaka is pretty much the cutest thing ever pic.twitter.com/9uk1fz4M7S
— D’Arcy Maine (@darcymaine_espn) September 4, 2020
“Everything needs to be worked on”
Pironkova, who had played in the last tournament for three years, also celebrated the changing stereotypes that for a long time marked the analysis of the relationship between women and sport. “It is being shown that you can form a family and compete again at a high level,” said the 32-year-old Bulgarian, who made it out of the Open Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round. “If you make a good schedule, if you have the right motivation, you can combine the two things. It’s a lot of work, but you have to work for everything.
She will need it especially this Wednesday, when she will play the quarterfinals against Serena, perhaps the most ambitious of all the tennis players. At the age of 38, the American, who won the last of her 23 Grand Slam titles in Australia in 2017 pregnant with her daughter Olympia and returned to the tracks after overcoming a childbirth and a postnatal period full of complications , has yet to satisfy his desire to return to the top of everything and match the Court record, although he has already reached the Wimbledon and New York finals in both 2018 and 2019. And on the court Williams will have no qualms with his rival, but outside is another matter. “I’m extremely happy that there are so many mothers on this date,” she said a few days ago. “I have a whole new respect for breasts.”
Serena and Olympia are so cute! ??????
— boohoo (@boohoo) September 6, 2020
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