Mother of two Tatjana Maria still on diaper duty despite maiden Wimbledon semifinal

Life goes on for Tatjana Maria, even as she finds herself in the midst of a groundbreaking run to the Wimbledon semifinals.

“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 says after surviving countrywoman Jule Niemeier, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 on No. 1 Court.

“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 traveled on tour for over six years with husband/coach Charles-Edouard Maria and daughter Charlotte and, after welcoming second daughter Cecilia to her growing family last April, was back on tour three months later.

“I guess there are a lot of people who never believed I would come back,” she muses, adding, “Close to me, nobody doubts, was never doubting that I cannot do it. That's great and that makes me proud, that my family supporting me all the time.”

The 34-year-old is closing in on a return to the Top 100, having already won a title on clay in Bogota earlier this year, and after making just one major third round in 2015, now joins an esteemed list of veterans to make a Wimbledon semifinal in their mid-30s, including Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, and Venus and Serena Williams.

“I always believed that I have something inside, I mean, that I can do this,” asserts Maria, who will play either Ons Jabeur or Marie Bouzkova for a first Grand Slam final. “I always believed in this, but to be now here in this spot... I mean, like I said, one year ago I gave birth to my second daughter. If somebody would tell me one year later you are in a semifinal of Wimbledon, that's crazy!”

With champions like Williams and Kim Clijsters setting a new standard for moms on tour, Maria believes her family dynamic provides much-needed balance for the stresses a big match brings.

“To be a mom is for me on the top of my life,” she says. “So, I think it helps me in tennis too, because now my priority are my kids. I mean, for sure I play tennis, I want to do my best, and, yeah, that's all what I want. But my kids are the priority.

“If I go out here, I want that my kids are happy, that they are healthy, that everything is okay. That's the most important for me in my life, and for my husband, too. That's why it works so well that we are working together. We are never fighting about the tennis, because we both know the family is the most important. It will always stay like this.”