{"id":358963,"date":"2024-01-10T18:41:17","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T19:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=358963"},"modified":"2024-01-10T20:01:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T20:01:41","slug":"supermums-serenas-unspoken-legacy-laid-bare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=358963","title":{"rendered":"'Supermums': Serena's unspoken legacy laid bare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Smith is hopeful that the return of "supermums" N\ufeffaomi Osaka and Caroline Wozniacki will draw more eyeballs to the Australian Open<\/a> women's draw this summer.<\/p>\n

Osaka and \ufeffWozniacki are both former champions at Melbourne Park and there are hopes that their pulling power will help reignite some momentum in the women's game Down Under after the retirements of Serena Williams and Ash Barty.<\/p>\n

After giving birth to daughter Shai in July, Osaka returned to the court at the Brisbane International in January<\/a>, beating Tamara Korpatsch 6-3, 7-6 in the first round before losing 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 to Karolina Pliskova in the second.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Adelaide International exclusively live and free on Nine,<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad free on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Naomi<\/p>\n

"It's great that she's back," Nine commentator Smith told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"Wonderful for the game, wonderful for her. She's joining the supermums, isn't she, on the return. There's a whole collection of them and I do feel that they've all been inspired by, in recent years, Serena Williams and her comeback from having a child.<\/p>\n

"That it's possible and also what (Victoria) Azarenka is still doing out there. It is a really big story when you get grand slam champions to come back into the game."<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Chappell urges selectors to have Smith 'conversation'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> De Minaur stuns world No.2 as giant-killing run continues<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> \ufeffStar's recall adds mystery to Aussie selection battle<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Serena<\/p>\n

Smith, a former British professional, believed the mentality of tennis mums had changed and so had the support and infrastructure available on tour.<\/p>\n

"When Azarenka tried to get back… pregnancy was defined as an injury and there wasn't enough time to come back and have protective rankings," Smith explained.<\/p>\n

"So everything around being a mother and tennis player has changed very drastically in the last five to six years… whereas before if you became pregnant, whether you're planning the child or not, it was always very difficult to return."<\/p>\n

\"Naomi<\/p>\n

While reluctant to put too much expectation on Osaka's shoulders ahead of the Australian Open, Smith believed the Japanese star's youth and "enormous" ball striking ability would make her an immediate threat in Melbourne and beyond.<\/p>\n

But learning how to best juggle motherhood and professional \ufefftennis would be a constant challenge.<\/p>\n

"She's got a new mindset on everything," Smith said.<\/p>\n

\"Motherhood<\/p>\n

"It's about enjoying, giving back to the fans and letting them in a bit more. And she's growing, isn't she? She's growing as a person.<\/p>\n

"It's a pretty big thing. I never had a baby, so I don't know what my body would feel like. But those that do, apparently you're a completely different athlete afterwards. But the great thing is she's got loads of mums around her and I wonder if she's been in touch with Serena to get some tips as well."<\/p>\n

Smith had been impressed with \ufeffWozniacki's strong comeback from dealing with \ufeffrheumatoid arthritis<\/a> in the American summer while another new mum, Elina Svitolina, had been "extraordinary" in her return to the court.<\/p>\n

\"Elina<\/p>\n

"It's taken them about six or seven tournaments to get in the groove or get close to where they were before. I think mentally they have to not keep comparing to where they were. It's a new start," Smith said.<\/p>\n

"They're mums now, they've got different priorities and it's great to have them in our sport, they bring a lot of storylines and you can see how much they've all developed as people as well, having a family."<\/p>\n

Smith said the genuine global interest in Osaka's return, and the rise of US teenager Coco Gauff, was a massive boon for women's tennis.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Gauff<\/p>\n

"Coco Gauff winning the US Open was a mega, mega story and (Iga) Swiatek is a superstar in Europe. But you're comparing them to Serena, a Serena Williams comes along once every 100 years.<\/p>\n

"The ones that are coming back as mothers, that's also given a lot of storylines for the media and Osaka is a superstar – huge in the States and Japan. Women's tennis still has some very big names.<\/p>\n

"There's not many big crossover stars. Serena was a crossover star, I think Osaka is a crossover star and Coco is essentially a crossover star. In tennis, they're huge and how much bigger can they get within the wider world of sport and beyond?"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Smith is hopeful that the return of "supermums" N\ufeffaomi Osaka and Caroline Wozniacki will draw more eyeballs to the Australian Open women's draw this […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":358965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=358963"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358969,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358963\/revisions\/358969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/358965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=358963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=358963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=358963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}