Tennis players will receive for the first time a maternity leave paid during the WTA tour.
More than 320 players will be eligible for leave paid up to 12 months through a new maternity fund introduced by the director organ, the Women’s Tennis Association.
The subsidies will also be made available for the treatment of fertility.
Players will have to compete in a minimum number of WTA tournaments over a certain period of time to be eligible.
The maternity program will be entirely funded by the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), which is a global partner of the WTA tour.
Petra Kvitova and Belinda Bencic have both returned to maternity leave in recent months.
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka, who gave birth to her son Leo in 2016, said to the BBC last year That it would be a “huge victory for women in general” if the WTA had to introduce maternity.
The quadruple major champion Naomi Osaka also spoke to support maternity, saying that it would be “that changed life”.
“It can be difficult to balance the physical and emotional requirements of a professional tennis career with the complexities of maternity and family life,” said the director general of WTA, Portia Archer.
“This initiative will provide the next generation and the next generation of players with the next generation support and flexibility to explore family life, in whatever form they choose.”
The return to the tour after maternity leave has become easier since the WTA changed the rules before the 2019 season.
New mothers are now able to use their previous classification to participate in 12 tournaments over a period of three years after the birth of their child.
Since 2019, the return mothers with a special classification high enough to be sown have also guaranteed that they will not face a seeded player during the first round of their first eight tournaments.
A sowing allows tournaments to ensure that the best players in the world do not meet in the first stadiums of competitions and rather play the lower row players in the opening rounds.
The WTA says that 50 players have benefited from the special ranking since its introduction six years ago.
The WTA also offers access to a health team and a working group, which includes physical assessments, mental health support and advice on a return to stage to play for new mothers and pregnant players.
