Wimbledon 2022: Supermom Tatjana Maria joins a very exclusive semi-final club

It’s a special club with a membership reading like the most stellar women of the last 50 years. Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chrissie Evert and Venus and Serena Williams share the exclusivity of having battled through to the Wimbledon semi-finals beyond their 34th birthday.

Germany's Tatjana Maria returns the ball to Germany's Jule Niemeier during their women's singles quarter final tennis match on the ninth day of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 5, 2022. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)

But they’ve just welcomed a newcomer – Germany’s Tatjana Maria who arrives with her two daughters in tow, nappy bag at the ready, because the youngest was only born last year. “It’s crazy, it’s a dream,” she said after beating her compatriot Jule Niemeier 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

“One year ago I just gave birth,” she told No 1 Court to huge cheers and the encouragement of working mums everywhere. That’s Cecilia, 15 months old. Every morning during the tournament Maria has practiced with Charlotte, eight, and kept to the routine for her first appearance in any Slam’s last eight.

After a cracking contest, with a long hug at the net for Niemeier, competing in her debut Wimbledon at 22 and surely a future star, Maria was asked if her return to top-flight tennis prompted scoffing, as it was “ridiculous” to even try. “I mean, there are a lot of people who never believed I would come back,” she said. “I reached the top 50 with Charlotte and everybody was doubting, but I’m showing everybody that I’m still here and that I’m a fighter.”

Maria at this tournament has been relentlessly portrayed as a mother first and a tennis player second. Does she mind that? “No, I love to talk about this,” she said. “For me the most important [role] in my life is to be a mom to my two kids. Nothing will change this.

“Yeah, I'm in the semi-finals of Wimbledon, it's crazy, but I'm still a mom. After this I will go and see my kids and do the same things with them I do every single day.

“I will change Pampers, everything normal. I try to keep normal as much as possible because that’s what makes me proudest: to be a mom.”

Niemeier, the first Wimbledon debutant in the women’s game to make the quarter-finals since “Little Mo” Connolly in 1952, threatened to steamroller Maria after breaking serve in the opening game. But while she had power in her groundstrokes the serve let her down - 11 double faults in all - and Maria, watched by her husband Charles, exploited a nervousness on the overhead with numerous lobs as part of a clever gameplan, proving there’s no substitute for experience.

Maria gasped when the over-34s club’s roll-call was read out to her. “That’s amazing,” she said. “To be among such great players, I cannot believe it.”

And what does Charlotte think of Supermom’s achievement? “She realises it’s something super-special. She ran into my arms and is super-proud of me. And she’s happy to be staying two more days in the creche.”

In the semi-final Maria will get the match she wanted, a contest with her great friend Ons Jabeur. The Tunisian, who she calls part of her extended family, came from a set down against Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.