{"id":1543969,"date":"2022-07-08T07:35:20","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T11:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1543969"},"modified":"2022-07-08T07:35:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T11:35:33","slug":"how-embracing-motherhood-propelled-this-34-year-old-athlete-to-the-wimbledon-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-embracing-motherhood-propelled-this-34-year-old-athlete-to-the-wimbledon-semifinals\/","title":{"rendered":"How Embracing Motherhood Propelled This 34-Year-Old Athlete To The Wimbledon Semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-embracing-motherhood-propelled-this-34-year-old-athlete-to-the-wimbledon-semifinals%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1543969&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Screen-Shot-2022-07-07-at-8.29.20-PM-1024x645-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Some like to argue that marriage, family, and professional success don\u2019t mix. The opposite has been proven this week at Wimbledon, tennis\u2019 most prestigious Grand Slam, by the performance of a German wife and mother of two. Thirty-four years of age and ranked outside the top 100, Tatjana Maria had never advanced beyond the third round in 34 previous Grand Slam attempts. 34! But this year, she made it all the way to the semifinals.<\/p>\n<p>Maria\u2019s game is a family affair. Her entourage on tour includes coach and husband Charles-Edouard Maria (a former player himself), and her daughters, eight-year-old Charlotte, and 15-month-old Cecilia.<\/p>\n<p>Tennis is important, but Maria prioritizes family first. \u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s why it works so well that we are working together,\u201d Maria said. \u201cWe are never fighting about tennis because we both know family is the most important. It will always stay like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During her first maternity leave after Charlotte was born, Maria, on the advice of her husband\/coach, changed from a double-handed to a single-handed backhand. The transition, risky and challenging for an established player, has made a significant difference in her game.<\/p>\n<p>Maria\u2019s style is unconventional, a departure from the hard-hitting \u201cBig Babe Tennis\u201d sometimes characterized as the \u201cSee-Ball-Hit-Ball\u201d mentality. Think more Martina Hingis than Serena Williams. Her game is predicated on guile and superior movement, as well as slices and spins off both wings. Her feathery touch includes frequent drop shots, as well as great court sense, an innate anticipation\u00a0of where her opponent\u2019s ball is going to land.<\/p>\n<p>In the fourth round, Maria saved two match points against the feisty, hard-hitting Jelena Ostapenko, winning the match 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.<\/p>\n<p>The quarter-finals pitted her against a fellow German powerhouse 12 years her junior. While Jule Niemeier won the first set 6-4, Maria won the second and third sets with her unconventional style and superb movement around the court.<\/p>\n<p>Tatjana Maria has been ranked as high as No. 46 in the world (2017). She is the oldest 1st-time semifinalist in the open era of tennis, and only the sixth woman to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam after her 34th birthday. The distinguished list includes Venus and Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, and Billie Jean King.<\/p>\n<p>When an interviewer in a post-match press conference asked if she was tired of questions about being a mother on tour, Maria replied, \u201cIt is the most important part of my life, being a mother. I love to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Players are starting to understand the value of having a strong support system behind the scenes, one which strengthens mind and body. Some, like Iga \u015awi\u0105tek, the current woman\u2019s No. 1, have hired sports psychologists or mental coaches, in addition to traditional coaches and physio trainers.<\/p>\n<p>Tatjana Maria\u2019s success demonstrates that a strong family system on tour can also provide stability. Daily Wimbledon pre-match preparation, for example, included familiar family routines, like arriving at the courts each morning with her eldest daughter. There Charlotte hit balls with other children, while Mom\u2019s practice session occurred later in the day.<\/p>\n<p>Though she lost in the semifinals Thursday to world No. 2 Ons Jabeur, Tatjana Maria\u2019s Wimbledon run signifies a victory for the traditional ideals of marriage and family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a dream,\u201d she said in her on-court interview after winning her quarter-final match, \u201ca dream to live this with my family, with my two little girls. I mean, one year ago, I had just given birth.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Beth Herman is an artist, essayist, and school docent at The National Gallery of Art. In addition to The Federalist, her essays have been published in The Wall Street Journal, Legal Times, The Washington Times, and on NPR. When not at her easel or writing desk, Beth can be found out running with her husband of over 35 years, author and historian Arthur Herman. Read more of her essays at <a href=\"https:\/\/releasethebeast.home.blog\/%E2%80%9C\">Release the Beast \u2013 Beth for Beth&#8217;s Sake<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some like to argue that marriage, family, and professional success don\u2019t mix. The opposite has been proven this week at Wimbledon, tennis\u2019 most prestigious Grand Slam, by the performance of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":710,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1543969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1543969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1543969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1543969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1543969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}