MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES

Serena seeding row is all the rage in France

AHEAD of the French Open the issue du jour, as they say in these parts, has been the question of whether Serena Williams should have been seeded or not on her return from giving birth. Funnily enough, little mention of this wider issue was made when Kim Clijsters came back after the arrival of her first child, nor in the case of Victoria Azarenka last year, nor with other mothers who have been active on the WTA Tour, such as Tatjana Maria or Kateryna Bondarenko.

But this is Serena, upon whom all eyes are gazing this week. The deference that tennis has for its superstars, and the particular fear many have of going against her, means it has been different this time.

Any rule change is going to come too late for Roland Garros, where she will play world No70 Krystyna Pliskova. Wimbledon might propel her into the seedings on her past record as they reserve the right to some discretion, although they usually leave the women’s draw alone.

While everyone agrees that players coming back from longterm absences should be allotted a place in the draw, there are clearly some misgivings about someone arbitrarily giving Williams a privileged seeding.

Jo Konta articulated as much on Friday, and she is not alone. In April even Caroline Wozniacki — one of Williams’ best friends on tour — cast doubt on the idea when she addressed the subject with a handful of the UK media.

‘Let’s say Serena got injured, does she deserve to be seeded when she comes back?’ asked the Dane. ‘If the general overall thing is yes, then I think being pregnant you deserve to come back and be seeded. It’s just I feel that you need to do both, whether you’re pregnant — and that’s obviously great news — or injured, where it’s just unlucky and something happened. ‘There’s pros and cons to everything and it’s just hard to find that balance. Do you choose one player, it’s OK, and the second it’s not? It’s hard to find a general rule I think.’ The argument has been advanced that professional tennis should act like any normal workplace in accommodating Williams in the seedings, but can the rarefied world of the tour be deemed normal?

The structure of the draw has a major say in the way thousands or perhaps millions in prizemoney is eventually dished out. There are also the rights of the woman who gets bumped out of the seedings to be considered, having spent all year working to get high enough ranked to receive the privilege.

The way the names came out for this tournament has lined up a potential fourth round match between Williams and Maria Sharapova. That is a truly fascinating prospect, although neither is anywhere near certain to get that far. British No 1 Konta, seeded 22, begins her campaign today and would be delighted to reach that stage, having never won a main draw match here.

After a sticky eight months that followed Wimbledon there are signs she may be returning to her best. She should be optimistic about beating world No 93 Yulia Putintseva, the pocket battleship from Kazakhstan.

Whatever her thoughts about the seeding issue, Konta is pleased to see Williams back at the age of 36. ‘I think it’s exciting in terms of modern-day issues, having someone of her profile coming back as a mother into a very competitive environment and performing at such a high level, I think it shows incredible strength as a woman.’

The list of potential female winners runs well into the teens. Simona Halep is due to win a Grand Slam while Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine also looks poised for a major breakthrough. Sharapova might have a say, too.

JAMES WARD, who has spent two years battling knee problems, reached today’s final of the Loughborough Challenger event with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Germany’s Maximilian Neuchrist. He will play Japan’s Hiroki Moriya.