Mums playing at Wimbledon unhappy with schedule

Wimbledon's women players are campaigning for better treatment of working mothers so that they can spend more time with their children.

Some of the leading women in tennis have held meetings to press for the sport to adopt better maternity policies to encourage players to return to the sport after giving birth.

Williams is back at Wimbledon for the first time since giving birth to Alexis Olympia in September. In her glittering career she has achieved 23 major titles.

But those achievements count for nothing when Alexis Olympia needs feeding, an issue that led Serena to make an emotional decision in favour of her career recently.

Williams had complications after childbirth and her condition was a concern at the start of her comeback this year.

After a tearful conversation with her coach Patrick Mouratoglou, she agreed to stop breastfeeding because it was making it difficult to lose weight.

"For my body, it didn't work. No matter how much I worked out, no matter how much I did, it didn't work for me. Then it was just emotionally letting go," Williams said.

"That was a different thing. I literally sat Olympia in my arms, I talked to her, we prayed about it. I told her, Look, I'm going to stop. Mommy has to do this.

"I cried a little bit. She was totally fine. It was the strangest thing.

"I just learned from that experience, every physical body is different."

Azarenka defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6, 6-3 in the Round of 128 and she will meet Karolina Pliskova in the Round of 64.

However, the tennis journey after giving birth was not easy for Belarusian as her one-year-old son Leo travels with her on the tour amid a stressful custody battle that forced her to step away from the sport last year.

The former world number one admits every moment she spends away from Leo is difficult while juggling her tennis schedule with the constant demands of parenthood is a never-ending battle.

"It's difficult for me because I schedule everything around him. I do try to maximise my time with him," two-time major winner Azarenka said.

"So whenever he's sleeping, that's when I'm working, and other times I'm a full-time mom. It's more challenging, but I wouldn't change it.

"The tougher balance is to be able to spend time away from my son and be okay with taking sometimes time for myself, which is a struggle, because I really want to spend every second with him.

"I feel guilty if I take 15 minutes for myself to stretch. I'm trying to run back to him and spend every second with him."

Vera Zvonareva was defeated by world No 10 Germany's Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of Wimbledon 2018.

She is also dealing with the similar circumstances same as other Wimbledon's mothers as she has a beautiful daughter Evelina who was born in was born in 2016.

While interacting with media, she said, "As long as I am physically fine, as long as I am injury free and I still have the desire to be out there and compete and fight, I think I would give it a try."

Germany's Tatjana Maria enjoyed the most surprising success with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 victory over fifth seed Elina Svitolina to the delight of her four-year-old daughter Charlotte.

She will play against Kristina Mladenovic in the Round of 64.

Tatjana Mari gave birth to her baby in 2013 and since then she has been facing the challenges of parenthood.

While interacting with a leading media house, she said, "I would like to see more facilities to help us,"

"It’s easier for the men because their wives can stay with their children and watch them play. But more facilities would be better for female players. It would be good to have more help."

Few female players have succeeded at Grand Slam level after becoming mums.

Belgium's Kim Clijsters returned to win the 2009 US Open, while Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong Cawley won majors after giving birth in an era when the physical demands on players were less intense.