Serena Williams welcomes WTA's rule change to help mothers

Alex Fisher

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Serena Williams welcomes WTA's rule change to help mothers image

Serena Williams has welcomed the decision to introduce protected rankings for new mothers on the WTA Tour from 2019.

Under new guidelines released this month, players returning to the tour following childbirth will be able to use their previous ranking to enter 12 tournaments over a three-year period.

When Williams took time off to have her daughter Alexis Olympia there was no such rule, meaning she was faced with a string of tough draws on her return due to her lowly ranking.

The rule will not allow returning mothers to be seeded in line with their previous ranking, and it will also not apply to grand slams.

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However, Williams believes it is a step in the right direction to help players when they want to start a family.

"I think it's great," she told a media conference ahead of the World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi.

"Women that are younger can go out there and have kids and not have to worry about it, and not have to wait until the twilight of their years to have children, and I think it's a really great rule.

"I think having gone through the experience myself really opened my eyes. Would I have done it sooner had there been different rule changes? I don't know.

"But now there is an opportunity, people don't have to ask that question."

Williams is in Abu Dhabi for an exhibition match against her sister Venus before flying to Perth to take part in the Hopman Cup.

It means more time away from her daughter, which she concedes is getting harder the older she gets.

"It's definitely not easier," she said. "As she gets older, the more I want to be with her, and the more, I think, she wants to be with me.

"So looking at it that way, it's a little harder."

Alex Fisher