Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is to finance a joint initiative with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for paid maternity leave of “up to 12 months” for players on the women’s tennis circuit, it was announced on Thursday.
The PIF WTA Maternity Fund Program “will offer benefits to more than 320 eligible WTA players”, the association said in a statement.
“WTA players will for the first time receive paid maternity leave up to 12 months, and have access to grants for fertility treatments to build families, as well as other benefits,” it read.
Players will have to compete “in a certain number of WTA tournaments in a window of time” to benefit from the payments.
Belinda Bencic, who won Olympic gold for Switzerland in Tokyo and has returned to the WTA tour after having daughter Bella last April, welcomed the development.
“Absolutely it’s the best news really,” Bencic said after cruising past Germany’s Tatjana Maria in the first round at Indian Wells in California.
“I think we are very proud as players for the WTA (to be) the first sport in female sports to make this.
“It’s great for everyone who is considering to have a family and come back, especially also the lower-ranked players that have to survive somehow when they are not playing for a year and a half and then trying to come back,”
Bencic, who earned her first title since returning from her leave in Abu Dhabi in February, noted that her Thursday opponent Maria was a mother of two.
“I’m really feeling like there are so many moms now on the tour, so we’re trying to show everyone it’s possible to have a baby and play professional tennis,” she said.
Support and flexibility
Two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka, a WTA players’ council representative, welcomed “the beginning of a meaningful shift in how we support women in tennis, making it easier for athletes to pursue both their careers and their aspirations of starting a family.”
“Ensuring that programs like this exist has been a personal mission of mine,” the Belarusian former world number one, who gave birth to a son in 2016, was quoted in the statement as saying.
For WTA CEO Portia Archer “this initiative will provide the current and next generation of players the support and flexibility to explore family life, in whatever form they choose.”
Several top players have taken a break from their careers to give birth, with varying degrees of impact on their subsequent careers. The WTA says 25 active players are mothers.
Belgian Kim Clijsters won three majors — the US Open in 2009 and 2010 and the Australian Open in 2011 — after giving birth to her daughter in 2008, following in the footsteps of Australians Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong, who triumphed at Grand Slams as mothers.
However, 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams did not win any after the birth of her first child in September 2017, even though the American reached four finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Four-time Grand Slam winner and former world number one Naomi Osaka of Japan returned to the courts in early 2024 after giving birth to a daughter.
Since then, the 27-year-old’s best result has been a final at the modest Auckland tournament in January.
Criticised by some tennis figures for its record on women’s rights, Saudi Arabia has boosted its tennis investments in recent years, organising the season-ending WTA Finals for the first time in Riyadh last November.
That came months after the WTA entered into a multi-year partnership with the PIF sovereign wealth fund, with the kingdom again set to host the WTA Finals in 2025 and 2026.