Women's tennis got a boost on Wednesday, as the WTA announced it would institute rankings pauses for players who step away from competition to undergo fertility protection treatments like egg or embryo freezing.
Players returning from a procedure can opt to receive a Special Entry Ranking, calculated using their 12-week average ranking starting from eight weeks before taking leave.
Players can use that unique ranking to enter up to three tournaments at the WTA 500, 250, or 125 levels before the governing body will again institute traditional calculations.
The protection extends to any player ranked among the world's top 750 who spends more than 10 weeks out of competition.
These latest rankings protection further secures the careers of tennis pro parents, who first earned special rankings in the 2019 WTA season after Serena Willams and Victoria Azarenka saw their seedings plummet simply from stepping away from competition to give birth.
The move also comes three months after the WTA agreed to grant players paid maternity leave for the very first time.
"I'm incredibly proud of our sport in recognizing the importance of fertility treatments for female athletes," said 2017 US Open champ and longtime reproductive health support advocate Sloane Stephens. "For any woman, the conversation of family life versus a career is nuanced and complex."
"It's truly ground-breaking and will empower this generation, and future generations of players, to continue with the sport they love without having to compromise."
World No. 2 Coco Gauff earned her second career Grand Slam title on Saturday, taking down No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a windy 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 battle to claim the 2025 French Open trophy.
Having reached the final once before in 2022, the 2025 championship made Gauff the first US player to win the French Open since Serena Williams did so in 2015.
"Losing in the finals here three years ago had created a lot of doubt in my head," the 21-year-old wrote on social media after her Roland Garros victory. "I thought my dreams were so close to happening but would never come true. So to be here…means absolutely everything."
Despite Sabalenka's championship match loss — a performance that saw the 27-year-old commit 70 unforced errors — she will retain the world No. 1 ranking thanks to a generally strong 2025 season so far.
Frustrated with her performance, Sabalenka faced backlash due to her emotional post-match comments on the loss — and, notably, on Gauff's level of play.
She later walked back those words on Sunday, clarifying in an Instagram story that "both things can be true… I didn't play my best, and Coco stepped up and played with poise and purpose. She earned that title."
Gauff, US standout No. 3 Jessica Pegula, and Italy's No. 4 Jasmine Paolini also maintained their WTA positions behind Sabalenka, with French Cinderella story Loïs Boisson skyrocketing 296 spots to No. 65 after her landmark semifinals run.
In contrast, four-time French Open champion Iga Świątek continues to dip, falling from No. 5 to No. 7 after last Thursday's semifinal loss to Sabalenka.
With two of the season's four majors in the books, the US is leading the charge, as Gauff joins reigning Australian Open champion No. 8 Madison Keys as 2025's Grand Slam winners.
Two US tennis stars are still shining at the 2025 French Open, as world No. 8 Madison Keys and No. 2 Coco Gauff blew through their Round of 16 matches on Monday to set up an all-US quarterfinal showdown on Tuesday.
Gauff dealt No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova a dominant 6-0, 7-5 loss early Monday morning, while 2025 Australian Open champion Keys ended fellow US player No. 70 Hailey Baptiste's French Open run with a 6-3, 7-5 defeat shortly afterward.
"Coco is so good, and especially on clay," Keys said ahead of her upcoming quarterfinal opponent. "She's an unbelievable player and such a great athlete.... I'm looking forward to it and happy to see there will be another American in the semifinals."
Five US women and three men reached the fourth round at Roland-Garros this past weekend, tying the country's 1985 record before Baptiste joined No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 16 Amanda Anisimova on the ousted list.
No US player has won the French Open since Serena Williams in 2015, with both Gauff and Keys shooting for a championship match date against top contenders like No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka or No. 5 Iga Świątek — winner of four of the last five Parisian Grand Slams.
How to watch the 2025 French Open
Gauff and Keys will battle for a spot in semifinals on Tuesday morning.
The quarterfinals kick off at 5 AM ET, with live coverage on TNT.
The US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame announced their Class of 2025 on Tuesday, with this year's iconic cohort headlined by tennis titan Serena Williams and track legend Allyson Felix.
Alongside four-time Olympic gold medalist Williams and seven-time gold medalist Felix — the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field history with 11 total medals — four other women and one women's team snagged spots in the 2025 class.
Joining the pair are gymnastics icon Gabby Douglas, a two-time team gold medalist and the first Black woman to take individual all-around gold in Olympic history, and three-time beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings.
Additional inductees include the gold medal-winning 2004 USA women's wheelchair basketball Paralympic team, five-time Paralympic gold medalist in track Marla Runyan — the only US athlete to have competed in both the Paralympic and Olympic Games — and multi-sport specialist Susan Hagel.
Hagel competed in six Paralympic Games across three different sports — archery, track and field, and wheelchair basketball — picking up four gold and two bronze medals along the way.
Barrier-breakers honored as Class of 2025 Legends
Also earning Hall of Fame honors are two trailblazing Black women, named as the Legends of the Class of 2025.
Renowned volleyball player and 1984 silver medalist Flo Hyman — whose work to bolster Title IX as well as her role helping Team USA to their first-ever Olympic medal in women's volleyball were crucial to growing the sport in the US — will be posthumously celebrated.
Honored alongside Hyman will be 1976 Olympic bronze medalist Anita DeFrantz, the first and only Black woman to medal in rowing.
DeFrantz, the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) first-ever woman member, is still helping to make Olympic history, casting the deciding vote to elect the IOC's first woman president this past March.
The Class of 2025 is the 18th overall group and first since 2022 to enter the Hall of Fame.
Following their July 12th induction, the US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame will bloom to 210 individual and team members.
On the heels of Unrivaled 3x3 Basketball's successful debut season, TIME honored league founders Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart as two of the year’s most influential people, with the WNBA superstars earning space on Wednesday's 2025 TIME100 List.
"Unrivaled makes female athletes think about everything differently," retired US soccer legend and Unrivaled investor Alex Morgan wrote in the pair's tribute. "It's not always just take the salary and sign on the dotted line and be happy. Sometimes you can just do it yourself better."
Other big names in women's sports also made the cut, including the most decorated gymnast in history, Simone Biles, and retired tennis superstar Serena Williams.
"She is both deeply human and undeniably superhuman — a combination that makes her impact profound," Biles's former USA teammate Aly Raisman wrote of the seven-time Olympic gold medalist. "She inspires us to believe that we, too, can persevere. That we, too, can shatter limits."
Citing Williams's extensive post-tennis resume, which includes significant investments into women's sports, retired US Olympic track star Allyson Felix sang the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion's praises in the 2025 TIME100 List.
"She continues to show that we, as athletes, are so far from one-dimensional," Felix wrote. "She could take a break from being in the public eye and raise her family. Instead, she continues to pave the way."
Teen tennis star Mirra Andreeva is on a roll, upsetting world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Sunday's final of the 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells and launching five spots to No. 6 in the WTA rankings as a result.
Sabalenka entered Sunday's match having not dropped a single set all tournament, then started the final strong with a 6-2 first-set victory.
The three-time Grand Slam winner's advantage didn't last past the first break, however, as Sabalenka's 17-year-old opponent came back roaring back to finish off the match 6-4, 6-3.
"In the second set, I tried to play a little bit more aggressive," Andreeva said after the match. "I didn’t try to overhit her, because I don’t think anyone can overhit Aryna, because she’s super powerful player."
"I tried to really create something to make her uncomfortable, and point by point, game by game, I managed to do that."
WTA Tour-leading Andreeva still hunting first Slam title
With Sunday's win, Andreeva became the youngest Indian Wells champion since then-17-year-old Serena Williams defeated Steffi Graf to win the tournament in 1999.
Even more, Andreeva did so in dominant fashion, ousting top players like No. 22 Elina Svitolina, No. 8 Elena Rybakina, and even the contest's defending champion, No. 2 Iga Świątek, to advance to the championship match.
By defeating both Sabalenka and five-time major champion Świątek, Andreeva added her name next to Williams' in another line of the tennis history book, becoming the first player under 18-years-old to defeat the world Nos. 1 and 2 at the same WTA tournament since the US legend did so at the 1999 US Open.
Perhaps most impressively, Andreeva now sits atop all other players on tour with a 19-3 record on the season, after adding Sunday's Indian Wells trophy to last month's 2025 Dubai Championships title.
That said, Andreeva's current hot streak isn't just a warning to her opponents on tour — it's a signal that the teen could be on the precipice of lifting her first-ever Grand Slam trophy, as her chances of reaching the sport's apex skyrocket with every top-ranked victory.
The WNBA and NWSL welcomed some new high-profile owners on Monday, as Serena Williams and Sabrina Ionescu announced investments in the country’s leading pro women’s sports leagues.
Tennis icon Williams is purchasing a stake in the Toronto Tempo. There, the 23-time Grand Slam winner will subsequently weigh in on the 2026 WNBA expansion team's visual elements like jersey designs, merchandise deals, and more.
"Serena is a champion," noted Tempo president Teresa Resch. "She’s set the bar for women in sport, business, and the world — and her commitment to using that success to create opportunities for other women is inspiring."
Meanwhile, 2024 WNBA champion and Bay Area product Ionescu also padded her portfolio. Ionescu bought into 2024 NWSL addition Bay FC, where she’ll serve as an official commercial advisor.
"Sabrina is the ultimate innovator and creates new pathways for aspiring and current professional athletes," said team CEO Brady Stewart. "Adding her passion and vision to what we are building at Bay FC will allow us to further disrupt the sports landscape."
Athlete investors lead the way in growing women's sports
Both current and retired athletes are increasingly buying into the business side of women’s sports. The list includes USWNT alums Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, and Abby Wambach backing Angel City FC and WNBA legend Sue Bird buying into the Seattle Storm and Gotham FC.
Earlier this year, 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark threw her support behind Cincinnati’s recent NWSL expansion bid.
"This moment is not just about basketball," said Williams. "It is about showcasing the true value and potential of female athletes — I have always said that women’s sports are an incredible investment opportunity."
"I whole-heartedly understand how important investment really is and obviously you can talk about it and be about it, but you really have to want to be committed to it and invest to be able to see what you believe in come to light," echoed Ionescu.
Ownership doesn't only keep legends in the game. It also proves that women’s sports are a booming business.
"It hasn't happened overnight for us. It's been years and years for us of athletes kicking down the door, voice what it is that they want to see. It's taken investment, and now expansion," added Ionescu.
"To see it now in real-time — viewership, attendance, sponsorships — everything is at an all-time high."
On Wednesday, US tennis icon Venus Williams was awarded a wild card spot to play in next month’s BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, with the 44-year-old signing onto participate in her first WTA competition in a almost a year.
Williams has not featured in a tour event since the 2024 Miami Open, exiting that tournament in her March 19th opening match after dropping two straight sets to Diana Shnaider.
Venus Williams continues her storied tennis career
Often stating her desire to play professional tennis for as long as she can, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion has never officially announced her retirement.
"Serena ruined it for me," Williams joked during an October 2024 TV interview, referencing her sister’s 2022 retirement. "Because as soon as she retired, everybody thought I retired."
Williams, who turned pro over 30 years ago, boasts a resume with 49 singles trophies and five Olympic medals. Her combined 21 Grand Slam titles includes five Wimbledon singles championships, two US Open singles trophies, and 14 doubles titles alongside her younger sister.
While she has more major singles titles than any other active woman on tour, Williams hasn't added to her tally since winning the Taiwan Open in February 2016.
Having drastically decreased her competition schedule over the last few seasons, Williams has competed in just nine events over the past two years.
"At this point, it’s about picking and choosing places I want to be," she said.
A roller coaster history with Indian Wells
Given her stated intention to specifically choose her competition appearances, it's somewhat interesting that Williams set her sights on the Indian Wells tournament.
While she first competed at the event in 1994, both Williams and her sister boycotted the tournament for 14 years following Serena's experience during the 2001 final. Though she ultimately won the title, then-19-year-old Serena experienced booing and racist abuse during the match — an ordeal the younger Williams sister called "very traumatizing."
Serena ultimately returned to the competition in 2015, with Venus doing the same in 2016.
With 10 Indian Wells appearances on her resume, including three trips to the competition's semifinals, this year's tournament marks the second-straight year that Williams will play as a wild card entry. At the 2024 edition, she fell 6-2, 3-6, 0-6 to Nao Hibino in the first round.
How to watch the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells tennis tournament
The 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells runs from March 2nd through 16th.
With her wild card berth, Williams will begin play when the main draw starts on March 5th.
Live coverage of the tournament will air across the Tennis Channel's platforms.
Thursday's 2024 ESPYs doubled as a celebration of the rising popularity of women's sports, as retired tennis superstar Serena Williams hosted the proceedings with ease.
"Get up, get off the TikTok, work hard, find out how capable you are. Be great. Be so great they don't want to believe in you and then be even greater," she told the next generation at the end of her opening monologue.
Women's sports take center stage at ESPYs
Athletes in women's sports were big winners throughout last night's ceremony, reflecting a watershed year across the entire sporting landscape.
Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark took home both the Best College Athlete and Best Record Breaking Performance Awards for her historic NCAA career at Iowa.
USC star JuJu Watkins won Best Breakthrough Athlete after an exceptional freshman season with the Trojans.
Gymnast Simone Biles won Best Comeback Athlete, as the two-time Olympian prepares for her third Summer Games later this month.
Las Vegas Aces' all-time leading scorer A'ja Wilson came up big in both the Best Women's Sports Athlete and Best WNBA Player categories.
The undefeated 2023-24 South Carolina Gamecocks won the award for Best Team.
Dawn Staley honored with individual award
SC coach Staley picked up her own honor, receiving the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance for her continued contributions in the field of cancer research advocacy.
Named after NC State men's basketball coach Jim Valvando, the Jimmy V Award recognizes "a deserving member of the sporting world who has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination."
"I must confess, I feel a little undeserving of this recognition," Staley said in her acceptance speech. "Past recipients of the Jimmy V Perseverance Award have faced incredible challenges and proven themselves as true warriors. I have merely been a spectator to such immense courage and resilience."
After opening up about her family's personal connection to the cause, Staley spoke about her greater journey as an advocate, both on and off the court.
"I try my best to do things in the right way, knowing that some little girl is out there watching me... maybe, she's one of the 13 pairs of eyes that see every little thing I do everyday and make sure to comment on it, that's my team," she said, motioning to her undefeated Gamecocks squad seated in the audience.
"How do I not fight pay disparity, when I do the same job and get paid less but win more?" she continued. "I can't ask them to stand up for themselves if I'm sitting down. Nor can I ask them to use their voice for change if I'm only willing to whisper."
Angel Reese celebrated her 22nd birthday in style, turning out for the Met Gala.
The Chicago Sky rookie wore a custom dress by British label 16Arlington. Reese is just the second WNBA player to ever grace the Met Gala carpet, following Brittney Griner's appearance last year.
"I’m just excited to see everyone’s outfits. Everyone looks amazing in here. Being here on my 22nd birthday is amazing," Reese told WWD ahead of the event. "I feel beautiful and I feel sexy."
She later took to Twitter, writing that "being able to play the game I love & live my dream in the fashion world all on my 22nd birthday is a blessing."
Wow! God is so good! Being able to play the game I love & live my dream in the fashion world all on my 22nd birthday is a blessing. 🥺😭🥳
— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) May 7, 2024
Reese wasn’t the only women's sports athlete to grace the Met Gala this year. Rolex Women's World Golf Ranking No. 1 Nelly Korda arrived as a guest of Wasserman Media Group chairperson Casey Wasserman, making her the first LPGA golfer to attend the event. Korda wore Oscar de la Renta.
Icon ✨@NellyKorda at the 2024 #MetGala pic.twitter.com/nziEROYb5V
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 7, 2024
Former host and red carpet regular Serena Williams showed up in a gold Balenciaga gown. She reunited with tennis great Maria Sharapova at the event, while sister Venus Williams was also in attendance.
Gold and @serenawilliams just go together 🥇
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) May 7, 2024
The 4x Olympic gold medalist showed out at the #MetGala. pic.twitter.com/ZsNHxu1DSg
Maria Sharapova arrives at the Met Gala.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 7, 2024
Stunning. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/zZzAcR35V6
#MetGala with @MarcJacobs 🌟 #ReawakeningFashion
— Venus Williams (@Venuseswilliams) May 7, 2024
📷 @GettyImages pic.twitter.com/JEepMkjgU8
This year's Met Gala theme was "Garden of Time."