“Mother of all comebacks”
Maria wants a new sensation against “Tante Ons”
After a few strokes of fate, Tatjana Maria is now stronger than ever. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
For Tatjana Maria, the next emotional highlight follows in her fairytale Wimbledon run. In the semifinals, the mother of two meets a very good friend of the family.
15-month-old Cecilia explored the Wimbledon grounds with “Aunt Ons” in hand, while eight-year-old Charlotte likes to hit a few balls with Ons Jabeur.
Tatjana Maria and her family with two daughters have a close relationship with the Tunisian world-class player – in the semi-finals of the classic grass pitch, of all places, the two meet for the biggest performance of their careers.
Maria: “We get along really well”
“We’ve known each other for ages, she loves the children,” said the mother of two, Maria, describing the relationship with the second in the world rankings, which is unusual in professional sport. “She almost sees my kids as her kids, so she’s actually part of our family. Whenever she sees Charlotte, she plays tennis with Charlotte. If she sees Ceci, that’s her baby. We get along great.”
Actually, the story of Maria and her traveling family business would be fairytale enough: Less than a year after returning after the birth of her second daughter, the 34-year-old, who previously reached a maximum of the third round in a Grand Slam tournament, is like that good as never before. Her husband Charles-Edouard trains her, every morning in Wimbledon the eight-year-old Charlotte has tennis practice first, both daughters are in childcare during the tournament matches.
“I’m really happy for her that she gets what she deserves,” said 27-year-old Jabeur about her good “barbecue friend” Maria. “She was struggling a lot. It’s not easy coming back after having two babies. It will be a great match between us, with a lot of respect.”
“Mother of all comebacks”
Internationally, too, attention is growing for the “mother of all comebacks”, as the “Daily Mail” joked about three sentences in view of Maria’s catching up in the German quarter-final thriller against Jule Niemeier. At the BBC, Charlotte was allowed to interview her mother: who is your favorite player? Answer: Serena Williams and Ons Jabeur.
In Palm Beach Gardens, Maria, who was born in Bad Saulgau, lives on the east coast of Florida in the neighborhood of the Williams sisters, and also talks to Serena about motherhood. Both call for more rights for mothers and families on the tour, Maria advocates, among other things, for separate rules when returning after pregnancy.
Maria would also be happy about childcare in the style of the Grand Slam tournaments. “It’s great for the kids, they all know each other. It’s nice that they’re always together, it’s a great help for us,” she said at Wimbledon. “It’s a shame that the other major tournaments like Indian Wells or Miami don’t have that.”
Childcare at Wimbledon
Mothers are still a rarity in professional tennis. In addition to Maria and Serena Williams, there was only Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in this year’s field. In the 138-year history of women’s tennis at Wimbledon, only four mothers have won the title, after the First World War it was only Australia’s Evonne Goolagong-Cawley in 1980.
The fourth triumph of a German tennis player on Church Road after Cilly Aussem, Steffi Graf and Angelique Kerber would be an absolute sensation for several reasons. Despite all the friendship, Ons Jabeur has something against it. “It’s hard to play against them and I’ve joked with Charlotte: will you support me or your mum? I’m trying to get the kids on my side,” said the Tunisian, laughing. “Maybe we won’t be friends for two hours or however long the match lasts. But in the end we will be friends again.”