2023 U.S. Open: Wozniacki, Svitolina Highlight Growing Tennis Trend: Big Comebacks After Having Children

The 2023 U.S. Open women’s draw featured two big returns. Both Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina were back playing again at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, New York City. That’s after each had taken time off from the pro tour, during which each had given birth to children. The 33-year-old Wozniacki had actually retired from the professional tour in 2020 but smashed away that decision this year, Meanwhile, 28-year-old Svitolina had stepped away only temporarily in 2022 with the full intention of returning. But both are the latest players to do what’s becoming more and more common on the women’s professional tennis tour—taking time off to give birth and then bouncing back successfully. And that’s a great thing to see not just for tennis but also in general for society.

Wozniacki Reaches Fourth Round After ‘Unretiring’

Wozniacki has had quite a “wild” run since essentially saying “I’m back” in a June 29, 2023, article for Vogue. Since the Danish former Number One in the world was no longer ranked high enough to automatically qualify for tournaments, she had to rely on wild card entries to play in tournaments at Montreal, Cincinnati, and then the 2023 U.S. Open. She had retired three years ago in large part because rheumatoid arthritis was one opponent that she was struggled to beat at the time. Since then she’s given birth to two children, Olivia Wozniacki Lee on June 11, 2021, and James Wozniacki Lee on October 24, 2022, with the father being former NBA player David Lee. But it turned out that retirement wasn’t a set point for Wozniacki, so to speak.