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Ivanka Comes to Serena Williams's Defense After 'Ridiculous' French Open Ranking Because of Maternity Leave

Cortney O'Brien
Cortney O'Brien  |  May 28, 2018 6:25 PM

Serena Williams was the No. 1 tennis player in the world in January of last year. She had just beaten big sister Venus to win the Australian Open for a seventh time. Oh, and she did it while being 8 weeks pregnant. 

It was an incredible feat. Yet, Serena's pregnancy, which obviously kept her off the professional tennis circuit for months, is now the reason she has fallen to No. 453 in the world. She is making her comeback grand slam debut at this month's French Open in Paris. But, because her maternity leave prevented her from competing for awhile, she failed to receive a seeded ranking at the tournament, meaning she'd have to play much more difficult opponents. The old rule allowed players on maternity leave to return to the tour with the same ranking, but grumblings led to a change in policy, Williams recently explained on "The View." She suggested the policy was penalizing mothers for wanting to start a family, but she accepted it, noting that it simply meant she would have to practice and train more.

"You have to be ready to play the best the first day," she said. 

She added that "hopefully" the next time a player needs to take maternity leave they don't have to start so low in the rankings.

First daughter Ivanka Trump spoke up on the tennis star's behalf last week, calling the policy "ridiculous."

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To anyone who's been paying attention to Ivanka's schedule, it was no surprise she spoke up for the tennis star. Since her dad became president, she has pursued policies that protect the family structure, including paid family leave.