‘My childhood was spent in pain – I feared for my baby, too’
Wimbledon champion Jordanne Whiley is already back to winning ways on court after giving birth, but the brittle-bone disease sufferer says her son will always come first, writes Pippa Field
‘I would give up all of my grand slams, titles and medals to have Jackson again’
Jordanne Whiley was acutely aware the 2017 Wimbledon women’s wheelchair doubles final could be her last competitive match.
There were many thoughts going through her head, not least the prospect of winning four straight titles at the All England Club, and a 10th grand-slam success overall. But most pressing was ensuring she did not vomit on court.
“I was 11 weeks’ pregnant and I had really bad morning sickness, which was pretty much all-day sickness,” Whiley recalls, just about summoning a smile, at her home in Oxfordshire. “On finals day at Wimbledon, they put us on at 11am. We lost the first set. I think that was down to me just being as sick as a dog. I took a toilet break, took some more medication and then I thought, ‘This is my last tournament for a while, this might be my last tournament ever’, so I pushed through the vomit.”
It was a fortnight after she and Yui Kamiji, her Japanese partner, completed their comeback win that Whiley revealed the news, posting a picture of her baby scan on Twitter alongside the caption: “So I had a little help at Wimbledon this year.”
The announcement drew comparisons with Serena Williams after the American won a recordbreaking 23rd grand-slam title six months earlier at the Australian Open while eight weeks’ pregnant. But while Williams always intended coming back, Whiley was undecided. “I never said to anyone I was or I wasn’t because I didn’t know how I would feel,” she says.
Whiley’s son, Jackson, arrived in late January and she admits Williams’ competitive return shortly afterwards – just five months after almost dying giving birth – followed by two grand-slam final appearances at Wimbledon and the US Open “exceeded her expectations” and helped give her confidence about her own return. She also, to her relief, missed the sport and this month marked her return by winning the Tennis Foundation National Wheelchair Tennis Championships. But if she had a “smooth” birth in comparison to Williams, Whiley’s early experience of motherhood was not straightforward.
A tennis player since the age of three, her whole life had been dedicated to the sport, tasting victory at each of the grand slams, including winning the 2015 US Open women’s wheelchair singles, as well as claiming doubles bronze at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and being appointed MBE three years ago for services to tennis.
But her desire to be a mother burnt equally strongly and, after she and Marc Mccarroll, her partner, suffered a miscarriage in January 2017, there were increased nerves when she fell pregnant a few months later. Additionally, there was the question of whether her disability – osteogenesis
imperfecta, or brittle-bone disease as it is more commonly known – would be passed to her unborn child.
“That was the longest wait of my life, those 10 days waiting after the scan at around 13 weeks,” says Whiley, 26, whose father, Keith, has the same condition. “As a child, it was quite severe. You’re in and out of hospital, you break your legs all the time. My childhood was pretty isolated because I wasn’t able to go to birthday parties. I wasn’t even allowed to play outside at school. I missed out on so much. I was in a lot of pain for the first 12 years of my life with operations. It was horrific.
“When your child has a medical condition, some people say, ‘I will love my child whatever’, but it wasn’t a case of whether I would love him or not. It was that I know what it’s like.”
Thankfully for Whiley and Mccarroll, also her coach, the scan came back negative, removing what would have represented a heartbreaking termination decision for the couple.
“I loved him so much even though he was tiny. I didn’t want the results to come back positive and then I would have to make that decision. Inside, I know that it would have been the right decision,” she says.
“People sometimes don’t understand. They look at my life now and say, ‘you’ve had the best life’. Yes, I would never have had this life without my disability and I
would never change the fact I have my disability. But if you ask my parents at the beginning, ‘Would you want this pain for your child?’ you’d say no. I’ve experienced it and I didn’t want it for him.”
Whiley describes Jackson as the best thing that has happened to her, remarking she “would give up all of my grand slams, titles and medals to have him again.” She also agrees with Mccarroll that the arrival of their firstborn has helped “mellow” her. “Tennis is a bit of an isolated sport as it’s so individual. It can consume you. That’s what happened with me,” she says. “Now I’ve had him, it’s opened up the world to me. If I leave him for more than 24 hours, I really feel like my arm has fallen off.”
At the national championships, Whiley admits to making a quick getaway after her final, asking for the trophy before dashing back in time for Jackson’s bedtime. Such separation anxiety will only increase as she steps up her return to the circuit, one where she believes she is the only active wheelchair tennis-playing mother. “It’s new and unknown, but also interesting and exciting,” she says.
Unlike Williams and other able-bodied players, however, Whiley cannot rely on a protected ranking, meaning she will tailor her schedule accordingly, initially picking smaller tournaments to best help her climb back up the rankings as she builds her fitness. She hopes to make her grand-slam return at Wimbledon next year, by qualifying as one of the seven best players or via a wild card.
The issue of wheelchair competitors returning from injury lay-offs or pregnancy not having a “special ranking” to enter tournaments is one she wants addressed in the future, though.
“Some people say it’s a choice, and it is ultimately a choice to have a baby,” she says. “But, at the same time, it isn’t really, because if you’re a woman and you want a child in your life, you have the right to do that. And then you don’t really have a choice, because you only have a certain window to have a child and you only have a window to be a professional athlete. I think we should have protected rankings, more so for injuries, because that really isn’t a choice.”
The playing motivation for the former world No3 is to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, where she hopes finally to claim the singles medal that has eluded her – ideally in front of Jackson. A lot can happen between now and then but there is one thing Whiley, who is indebted to the support of her family – including her mother, Julie, who retired to help with child care – and the Tennis Foundation, is certain on – her son will always come first.
“I only want to do tournaments that are necessary. I’ve seen it with other players, where they’ve been away so much and they’ve missed birthdays. I don’t want to be that kind of mum. I don’t have a ranking and I need to qualify for Tokyo, so I have to do well in competitions, but I’m not willing to jeopardise his childhood for it. I’m a mum first and then I’m a tennis player.”