The American legend, Serena Williams, began her career as a naive teenager. But it did not take her long to pick up her first Slam at the Flushing Meadows. A couple of decades later, the 38-year-old is on a quest to lift the title again, this time as a mother. 

Few months after delivering her daughter Olympia via C-section, Williams realized coming back on the circuit from childbirth was physically more painful than she’d expected. And becoming a top-notch tennis professional once again was an uphill battle.

“I think society puts it out there that you’ll just kind of snap back and that’s just a myth. I feel like it’s important for women to know that it doesn’t happen like that in the Instagram world. But in the real world, it takes a while for your body to come back. Especially after a C-section, I think it takes a little bit longer,” Williams explained during US Open 2018.

She further talked about everything that was going around during her recovery. “And not only that, like mentally and physically and dealing emotionally with providing for another child, it’s a lot that goes into it. And I was just living in this world where I thought it would just automatically come together. Yeah, my dress, I kind of look like a magical fairy, but it’s not happening. So I had to realize and live in reality,” she added.

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Serena Williams’ first title since maternity leave

After her pregnancy layover, World Number nine Serena Williams made comeback at Indian Wells in 2018. She continued to play some incessant tennis and earned her spot in the finals of Wimbledon and US Open that year.

In 2020, Williams finally snapped her title drought that ran all the way back to January 2017. She was victorious in Auckland and had successfully pulled off the first title in the fourth decade of her tennis career.