Women's Tennis Association (WTA) are set to introduce a new special seeding rule for players returning from maternity leave, a contemporised attire rule, and the rollout of a 25-second shot clock in 2019.
The Board of Directors approved the changes to the special seeding rule to make it easier for women to return from pregnancy, starting a family, or who have suffered medical illness.
The rule was brought into contention after Serena Williams entered the French Open unseeded upon her return from maternity leave.
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Williams, who has 23 grand slam singles titles, was ranked number one in the world before she left the sport while pregnant with her daughter.
Returning to the WTA tour ranked world no.453, organisers at the French Open decided not to grant the 36-year-old a seeding.
But the All England Club's seedings committee opted to break with the norm by promoting Williams to the 25th seed for Wimbledon.
Languishing in 183rd in the rankings, Williams was not guaranteed to be seeded at the grass-court major given she is outside the top 32.
Seedings announced for The Championships 2018: https://t.co/dFdFzTWmzZ#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/ec5TrOHcPZ
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 27, 2018
In a call for greater consistency across all four majors, the Board of Directors approved multiple changes to the Special Ranking Rule, such as allowing players to use their special ranking for seeding purposes at WTA events.
The change allows women up to three years to use her special ranking if they are forced to withdraw with pregnancy or a medical condition. In the event of pregnancy, the time period is calculated from the birth of the child.
Upon their return, players may use their special ranking for seeding purposes at the first eight WTA tournaments she plays. Previously, it was the decision of the event organisers to seed her.
A player may now also freeze her ranking up to two times.
The WTA also modernised the competition attire rule, now allowing legging and compression shorts to be worn without a skirt across all events.
After trialing a 25-second shot clock at the US Open in August, the WTA will continue to implement the rule at Premier events in 2019. Previously, players were only allowed 20 seconds between points.
View the rest of the 2019 WTA Rule Changes here.