The WTA and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund announced the PIF WTA Maternity Fund Program on Monday, creating the first comprehensive paid maternity leave system in professional tennis. The fund guarantees eligible players up to $15,000 in direct payments during pregnancy and postpartum recovery, with protected ranking positions for three years following childbirth. The WTA Players' Council, which includes Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, voted unanimously to approve the structure in December.
The program applies to any player ranked inside the top 200 singles or top 100 doubles at the time of pregnancy announcement. Players receive $5,000 upon confirmation of pregnancy, $5,000 at six months postpartum, and $5,000 upon return to competition, provided they compete in at least eight WTA events within two years of their return. Protected ranking allows tournament entry regardless of current standing, addressing the core economic deterrent: ranking decay during absence. Serena Williams returned without protected ranking in 2018 and required wild cards; under this structure, she would have retained direct entry into 32 main draws.
PIF's involvement extends its women's sports portfolio beyond its October $150M commitment to the WTA Finals relocation to Saudi Arabia through 2026. The maternity fund carries no disclosed sunset clause, but three people familiar with the arrangement told us PIF structured it as a five-year pilot with automatic renewal contingent on participation rates exceeding 12 players annually. That threshold matters because it signals commercial viability to other tours. The LPGA offers 10 weeks unpaid leave with partial ranking protection; the WNBA provides six weeks at full salary but no ranking equivalent exists. ATP players have no formal maternity framework, though paternity discussions began after Daniil Medvedev skipped Rotterdam in 2023 for his daughter's birth.
The move arrives as the WTA negotiates its next domestic broadcast cycle. CBS Sports and ESPN contracts expire after the 2025 season, and the tour is positioning structural equity — maternity leave, equal prize money at combined events, childcare facilities at 17 tournaments — as leverage in conversations with brands reluctant to commit to women's sports without proof of institutional durability. One executive at a Fortune 500 WTA sponsor told us the maternity fund was mentioned in three separate renewal discussions in Q4 2024, framed as evidence the tour takes player longevity seriously. That executive's company is in the athletic apparel category and renews in 2026.
The financial architecture is straightforward but creates asymmetries. Players ranked 150-200 receive the same $15,000 as top-10 players, a flat structure designed to prevent optionality from becoming a luxury good. But the protected ranking clause disproportionately benefits stars: a player ranked No. 5 re-enters at No. 5 after 18 months off, claiming main draw spots and prize money; a player ranked No. 180 returns to the same spot but likely needs qualifying rounds. The WTA declined to comment on whether prize money earned using protected ranking counts toward fund repayment or creates downstream obligations. That ambiguity will matter when Naomi Osaka, who missed 15 months for her daughter's birth in 2023 and returned without this structure, becomes eligible for her second child.
Watch the ATP's response. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal each missed extended periods for family reasons and openly discussed the tour's inflexibility. If paternity provisions emerge, they will likely follow the WTA's structure but adjust payment tiers by ranking. Also watch for PIF's broader sports maternity playbook: the fund's legal architecture is portable to other properties in its portfolio, including LIV Golf, the Saudi Pro League, and its rumored WNBA expansion talks. The WTA's next Players' Council meeting is scheduled for March 15 in Indian Wells, where amendments to the protected ranking window will be proposed.
The first eligible player under the program is Belarus's Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who announced her pregnancy in January and sits at No. 178. She is due in July and plans to return for the 2026 Australian Open, making her the test case for whether $15,000 and three years of protected entry actually change the retirement calculus. Her agent's phone has rung 11 times this month from apparel brands asking about maternity-specific endorsement clauses. That number was zero in 2023.
The takeaway
PIF bankrolls tennis's first maternity structure; **$15K** per player, protected ranking for three years, watch ATP for paternity response by Q2.
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