A first-of-its-kind fund has been created for players in the Women’s Tennis Association to provide financial support and resources for starting and/or growing their families. Two-time grand slam champion Victoria Azarenka stated that this is a “game-changing” moment for athletes within the sport.
Players in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) will now receive financial support and resources to start or expand their families, according to the group. Two-time grand slam champion Victoria Azarenka told CNN that this new maternity fund for tennis players is a “game-changing” moment for athletes in the sport.
The Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is fully funding the new initiative that will give players paid maternity and parental support. The fund will also help couples by providing grants for egg and embryo freezing, as well as IVF treatment.
Azarenka received consecutive Australian Open titles in 2012 and 2013, and gave birth to her son in 2016. At the time, she discussed that there was no maternity leave policy in place.
“When I became pregnant with my son, it was a conversation about: am I going to be coming back to the tour or not?” Azarenka told CNN Sport.
“I had doubts right away. I was also scared … I was top five in the world at the time. It was an interesting way for me to find out that we didn’t really have any rules even in our organization to address maternity leave,” she said.
“It’s a very global conversation, much bigger than just the sport. It’s such an important topic in all walks of life, people have families, and I think that it’s a very important conversation to continue to bring to the table.”
The WTA initially increased protection for returning mothers on their tour in 2019. The rule change specifically allowed returning players to compete in a certain number of tournaments based on the ranking they held before going on maternity leave. The WTA reported that 50 players have benefited from this change.
“I feel like me and Serena broke the stereotype that in tennis it’s going to be possible and that’s what we’re so proud to do,” Azarenka said.
“I wanted to make sure that all of our other athletes feel the same way as well as that. Not everybody has the financial opportunity to stop playing and not have any income so that was a very big project of mine.”
“I really believe that helping other people, helping our sport grow is something that gives me a lot of pleasure, a lot of pride, probably more than my own winnings (and) I do believe this is a very life-changing program.”
The investment in funding from Saudi Arabia is a part of a larger plan to invest in tennis. While the nation has faced criticism for their record on women’s, LGBT+, and human rights, Azarenka thinks the intentions behind this initiative are good.
“I’ve personally not been there, so I cannot judge without seeing with my own eyes. I am very appreciative that they saw the vision (and) I think it’s a big testament that … they were the ones who really wanted to support that and want to continue to grow that,” she said.
“We have full (and) non-full members covered, which is very unprecedented in sports.”
“A lot of players (will) see these opportunities like, ‘Hey, maybe we actually can prolong our careers, and we can have families,’ and it’s almost like a two-phase way you can look at your career: before family and then you have family and you continue your career.”
Azarenka thinks this move is “just the beginning” when it comes to future benefits, opportunities, and protections when it comes to childcare and healthcare.
“It’s important to create just a little bit of an ecosystem that is part of the healthcare, part of financial support, part of childcare services, so how we can navigate that we need,” she said.
“(We also need) people who are willing to look outside of the boxes for the opportunities and to create those programs.”
“I’m extremely happy for all the young moms, new moms when they come out and succeed and just go out there and do their thing and represent our sport on such a global stage,” Azarenka stated.
“There’s probably going to be more grand slam champions that are moms and I think that is amazing. I hope, of course, it’s going to be me as a competitor. We had Serena be also very close to that. I was very close to that achievement.”
“We’re still competitors, we want to make that happen, (and) I think it’s going be an incredible opportunity to see that happen.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
