THE MUMMY RETURNS

Mamma Mia, Serena not a nappy bunny when away from toddler

SERENA WILLIAMS has revealed the downside to playing as a mum as the US Open becomes Mother’s Day today.

Remarkably, three of the final five women’s last-16 matches involve parents of young kids, with Williams leading the way against No.13 seed Maria Sakkari.

Another former world No.1, Victoria Azarenka, who faces Karolina Muchova, is the mother of three- year- old Leo, and Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova gave birth to Alexander 17 months ago.

Only three women – Margaret Court, Yvonne Goolagong and Belgium’s Kim Clijsters – have won Grand Slams after becoming mothers.

Williams won the most recent of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles, in Aust r a l i a , wh i le pregnant with her daughter A lex is (above, with dad Alexis Ohanian).

And she admits that being a mum carries a massive disadvantage when it comes to playing top-level tennis.

But if she can create history by matching Court’s tally of 24 Slams, she will make it a family affair. “I’m just so happy because there are so many moms in the event this year,” she said. “I just have a totally new respect for moms.

“I would never have thought I would be playing as a mom and the plus is that one day your daughter can say she was there. Whether she remembers or not, we can always have

CHILD’S PLAY Williams shows she can still mix it with young stars like Stephens (above, left) pictures. But other than that, it’s a minus because I am not with her. I’m not around her.

“It’s hard, because I spend a tremendous amount of time with her.”

For 32- year - o ld Pironkova, playing as a mum has be en unexpectedly rewarding.

This is her first tournamen t since Wimbledon 2017 but she has already dumped out the champion in London that year, Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, on the way to today’s clash with Alize Cornet.

“There was a time, maybe for one and a half to two years after I became a mum, when I didn’t really picture coming back to the tour at all,” she admitted.

Nine mums started the competition, but the two in the top half of the draw had both gone by the second round.