By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday July 5, 2022
Tatjana Maria rallied from a set down to top compatriot Jule Niemeier and book her maiden Grand Slam semifinal.
Photo Source: Getty
Just over a year ago Tatjana Maria was busy giving birth to her second daughter. Fast forward 52 weeks and Maria is shattering expectations as Wimbledon’s celebrated working mother.
Maria reached her first career Grand Slam semifinal on Tuesday as she toppled compatriot Jule Niemeier, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, to become the fourth player aged 34 or older to reach a Wimbledon semifinal.
The victory is monumental, and the fact that Maria is achieving her wildest dreams with her family front and center and by her side at Wimbledon makes it even more special for her.
"I think for me that's the most important in my life, to be a mom of my two kids. Nothing will change this," she said on Tuesday. "I'm here, yeah, I'm in the semifinal of Wimbledon, it's crazy, but I'm still a mom. After this I will go out over there and I will see my kids and I will do the same thing what I do every single day. I will change her Pampers, I mean, everything normal. I try to keep normal as much as possible, because that was what makes me proudest is to be a mom."
Maria, who knocked off No.5-seeded Maria Sakkari in the third round then saved two match points to defeat 12th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko in the round of 16, has won four of her five matches in three sets at Wimbledon.
The World No.103, who was outside of the top-250 as recently as March, will face either Ons Jabeur or Marie Bouzkova in the semifinal.
Only four women ranked outside of the top-100 have reached the Wimbledon semifinals since 1984.
Maria, one of three mothers to play the draw at Wimbledon this year, along with Serena Williams and Yanina Wickmayer, had only been past the second round once in her previous 35 major appearances
She told reporters that her and her team always believed she had something special to give to the report, despite the fact that many didn't think she'd ever make it this far at a Slam.
"I guess there are a lot of people who never believed I would come back," said Maria. "This was already after Charlotte (born in 2013) and when I changed my backhand. ... I showed it last time already that I am back. I mean, I reached the top 50 with Charlotte, and now I'm back with my second child. Still everybody was doubting.
"I mean, it's a little bit my life to show everybody that I'm still here and I'm a fighter, and I keep going and I keep dreaming. That's what I want to show my kids."