Serena Williams’ Ranking Falls to No. 453 in the World After Having a Baby, Smacking of Sexism

By Angela Helm via https://www.theroot.com

Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, and possibly the greatest athlete of all time, was ranked No. 1 in the world before she left her job to give birth and nurture her daughter, Alexis Olympia, as well as recover from a pulmonary embolism.

Williams, who was away from tennis for 14 months, currently has a world ranking of No. 453, mostly because of what many are calling a sexist call by the French Open and Women’s Tennis Association.

As it now stands, during the current French Open, Williams will now have to play the top seeds first, while other players work their way up to the top seed opponents.

Williams has already gotten her first post-baby win at the (notoriously racist, yes, we’re going to brand them that forevah) Indian Wells Masters in California on International Women’s Day, but fell in the third round.

Despite that, the French Open is choosing to follow the WTA rule of rankings to determine tournament seedings, when they could’ve opted to seed her where she stood before giving birth, according to the New York Times. It reports:

While all Grand Slam tournaments have the discretion to adjust their seedings, only Wimbledon ever does so, to account for players who excel or struggle on its grass surface. A communications official with the French …

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