When Williams won the 2017 Australian Open, setting the Open-era Grand Slam record while eight weeks pregnant, she also became the world No. 1. To become a mother, she subsequently went over a year without playing an official match, letting her ranking fall outside the Top 400.
In her return, she's been allowed to enter tournaments on a protected ranking, meaning, for entry purposes, she's still treated as the No. 1. But, for seedings within the Roland Garros draw, she's considered the same as anyone else ranked below No. 32 seed Alize Cornet.
So, in theory, she could have had to face No. 1 Simona Halep in the first round. While the draw worked out fairly benignly for Williams, the overall spectacle has forced people to think seriously about what protections returning mothers should be afforded, and whether they deserve their seedings to be saved for them in addition to their rankings.
On one hand, there's the belief that a mother should never be disadvantaged at work for having a baby.
