CHENNAI: At this year's Wimbledon, Tatjana Maria quietly enjoyed a streak that took her to the semifinals. During that run, she shattered a few records. When she reached the third round at SW19, she became the first mother of two to achieve that feat 'this century' according to the WTA.
Her last-four appearance also meant she became only the sixth woman in the Open Era after turning 34. In the process, she also became the oldest first-time semifinalist at a Major in the Open Era.
What is remarkable about all those numbers is that she had given birth to Cecilia, her second child, only last April. At some level, her game has gone up a notch after Cecelia's birth. Out of the two titles she has won till date, one (Bogota) came in April. Ranked 237 then, she won two qualifying round matches before winning five further matches to enjoy a jump of almost 180 places in the world rankings.
In Chennai, the No 4 seed, who eased past India No 1 Ankita Raina 6-0, 6-1, hopes to 'stay for a long time (go deep in the tournament) while also taking it 'match by match'.
However long she goes in this tournament — any tournament really — her husband and coach and her two daughters will be next to her on courtside. On Tuesday, Charlotte, her first daughter, Cecelia, who was in a pram, and husband, Charles-Edouard Maria, were sitting next to the court. It's pretty obvious that those three play a big role in her life.
In fact, Charlotte, who doubled up as sparring partner earlier this week, is being online schooled so that they can keep travelling the world.
"For the moment, I feel pretty good (about the situation)," she said in the post-match press conference. "(We) like to travel around the world. She is doing online school here also. It works out pretty well. As long as we are happy as a family travelling around the world, we will keep going."
One can also say that pregnancy had a big role in her game itself as she went from a two-handed backhand to a one-hander. "Changed when I was pregnant with Charlotte," she said.
"Not an easy change. My coach, he told me, he would like for me to change it. And I trust him 100 per cent. Happy that I did. Really important stuff." Against Raina, her game was heavily reliant on slices — it's what she does naturally — and it troubled the Indian. Expect to see more of her unique brand of tennis in the days to come.