The WTA, in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund (PIF), has launched the PIF WTA Maternity Fund Program, a groundbreaking initiative that gives paid maternity go away and fertility assist to WTA gamers. That is the primary time in ladies’s sports activities historical past that complete family-planning advantages can be found to skilled, self-employed athletes. The initiative ensures that gamers have higher circumstances balancing their careers and motherhood, setting a brand new normal for athlete assist.
Victoria Azarenka, who gave delivery to son Leo in 2016, praises the initiative: “Ensuring that programs like this exist has been a personal mission of mine.”What this system provides
Eligible WTA gamers will obtain:
As much as 12 months of paid maternity go away, with everybody receiving the identical quantity, no matter their rating.Grants for fertility remedies to assist household planning.Entry to specialised well being assist, together with bodily assessments, psychological well being sources, and dietary steering.
To qualify, gamers should have participated in no less than eight WTA occasions throughout the previous 12 months or no less than 24 occasions over the previous 36 months. Over 320 WTA gamers are eligible for this initiative, guaranteeing they don’t have to decide on between their careers and beginning a household. Not like different monetary assist applications, gamers is not going to should repay the funds in the event that they determine to not return to competitors.
A step in direction of equality in sports activities
Balancing an expert tennis profession with motherhood has lengthy been a problem, as feminine athletes are self-employed and don’t obtain normal worker advantages. This initiative units a precedent for different sports activities organizations to comply with, providing long-term profession sustainability for ladies in tennis.
WTA CEO Portia Archer emphasised that this program offers gamers extra management over household planning, eradicating monetary uncertainty. WTA Gamers’ Council consultant Victoria Azarenka, a mom herself, championed this trigger, calling it a game-changer for future generations of feminine athletes.
Increasing household assist in tennis
This maternity program builds upon the WTA’s Household Focus Program, which already contains:
Particular rankings that permit new moms to retain their earlier rating for as much as three years.Seeding protections, guaranteeing returning moms don’t face top-seeded gamers in early rounds.
Since its introduction in 2019, 50 gamers have benefited from these rating protections, making post-pregnancy profession continuity smoother.
A world influence on ladies’s sports activities
With PIF absolutely funding this initiative, the WTA is setting a brand new normal for athlete assist. The collaboration displays the shared imaginative and prescient of PIF and the WTA to advertise inclusivity and long-term profession stability for ladies in skilled sports activities.
This initiative not solely helps present athletes but in addition conjures up the subsequent technology, proving that skilled success and household life can go hand in hand. (sources: WTA, BBC)
