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With Naomi Osaka taking a break from tennis to have a baby, what are the odds on the four-time Grand Slam champion coming back to the top level?
Naomi Osaka announced via her social media platforms that she's expecting a child this year, and will be back on tour at the Australian Open in 2024.
This disclosure came as a surprise to tennis fans and has generated reactions online.
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Historically, most female tennis players who have gone the pregnancy route during their careers have done so when they were past their prime and had nothing to lose.
In light of this, is it feasible that four-time Grand slam winner Osaka will return to her best level at the Australian Open in 2024?
Here are five players who successfully returned to the sport after becoming mothers.
Victoria Azarenka
The Belarussian is a former singles World No.1, having claimed the top ranking for the first time in January 2012.
Before giving birth, Azarenka won 21 WTA singles titles, including two Grand Slam singles titles at the 2012 and 2013 Australian Open, She was also a two-time major finalist at the US Open, finishing as runner-up to Serena Williams in 2012 and 2013.
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On July 15, 2016, Azarenka announced her pregnancy through social media and missed the rest of the 2016 season.
She returned to competitive tennis the following year and proceeded to reach the US Open Final for the first time since 2013. Though she lost to Osaka, despite leading by a set and a break, Azarenka's ranking rose to No. 14, her highest ranking since January 2017.
Serena Williams
Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Williams was ranked World No. 1 by the WTA for 319 weeks, and finished as the year-end No.1 five times. She won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second most all-time.
In April 2017, the American revealed that she was 20 weeks pregnant and would miss the remainder of the season. The timing of her announcement led to the conclusion that she would have been roughly eight to nine weeks pregnant when she won that year's Australian Open.
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In 2018, Williams returned to active tennis and reached back-to-back finals at Wimbledon and US Open for two years in a row. She also reached the Australian Open semi-finals in 2021.
Kim Clijsters
The Belgian is not only the first Belgian player to attain the World No. 1 ranking, but also the first professional tennis player to return to the top of the WTA rankings after becoming a mother.
Clijsters won 41 singles titles and 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She is a three-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships, has been a champion at all four Grand Slam tournaments, and the French Open in doubles.
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She retired from tennis in 2007 at age 23 to get married and have a daughter.
She then returned two years later and won her second US Open title as an unranked player in just her third tournament back. She defended her title in 2018 and then won the Australian Open in 2019. Along with the great Margaret Court, Clijsters holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a mother.
Tatjana Maria
One of the few athletes whose careers resurrected after becoming a mother in 2013, the German reached her best singles ranking of world No. 46 in 2017.
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At the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, Maria reached the semifinals, becoming the sixth female player in the Open Era over age 34 to achieve the feat and the sixth woman from Germany. She lost her semifinal match to the second seed and world No. 2 Ons Jabeur in three sets.
This made her the first mother-of-two to make the last four of a major since 1975, and only the fourth player ranked outside the top 100 to reach the Wimbledon semifinals.
For her outstanding performances in 2022, she was named the WTA Comeback Player Of the Year.
Lindsay Davenport
During her career, Davenport was ranked singles World No.1 for a total of 98 weeks and was the year-end singles world No.1 four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005). She also won 38 WTA Tour doubles titles, including three major titles (the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open), and three Tour Finals.
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A mother of four, Davenport took a break from competitive tennis in late 2006 and much of 2007 to have her son.
Upon her return n 2007, she won three further career titles and was named WTA Comeback Player of the Year.
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