I grew up in a generation where when women got pregnant, it marked the end of their professional growth in whatever their career was and life would be much harder when they go back to their careers later on.
Even in sport, it was like a death knell, so the attention on the tennis moms that are returning to the professional circuit is very important, since any success they earn AFTER having kids can condition the minds of younger female players, that there is a career waiting for them after the first baby, or the second, etc etc, and won't have to wait too long to get married.
It has been done before, with Kim Clijsters coming to mind, but as quickly as she returned, she also left almost immediately, after proving to everyone that she wasn't a one-slam wonder. I think she won two more slams AFTER her baby.
Serena is as usual, superwoman, returning almost immediately after she has the baby! I guess her doctors gave her the go-signal, and physically, you can see that she can handle the pressure - not only of motherhood but of winning in such a competitive atmosphere.
As usual, the tennis gods have given her a handful - Mladenovic and possibly Madison Keys, Ekaterina Makarova and Carmila Giorgi - all very tenacious and crafty players.
So it would be interesting to see if she can play at such a high level again after retiring in Paris a month ago when she seemed on a roll once again. I just pray that her health wasn't compromised there. She would be such a loss to tennis if she retires.
Her potential semi-final opponent is possibly Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza or Simona Halep in the finals.
Not an easy path to another Wimbledon title.
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