Taylor Townsend was rallying with the rhythm of tennis before she was even born—as her mother played on court while pregnant with her.Twenty-four years later, Townsend had that same experience, playing professionally while pregnant with her baby boy.The symmetry serves as a reflection of how deeply tennis and motherhood are entwined in the arc of her life, shaping her identity and fueling her game.The sport is essentially “in my DNA,” Townsend told Newsweek between her French Open matches in May, which marked her first time back on Roland-Garros’ famous red clay since 2023.The 29-year-old, Chicago-born tennis champion has climbed through professional rankings over the past decade-and-a-half, but not without a few hurdles, including injuries, motherhood and losses. In doubles, she has played in a final in all four major championships, most recently taking the Australian Open in January, and Wimbledon last year, rising to become the No. 2 ranked female doubles player in the world, behind her partner, Katerina Siniakova.Excited to defend their Wimbledon title in this year’s competition, Townsend said she is going to walk out at the All England Club with confidence from last year.”I play well on these courts,” she said.Her coach, John Williams, reminded Townsend that success comes from her own abilities, not chance. “The only thing that that has a significant impact [on] is the degree of self-belief and self-actualization,” he told Newsweek. “ So knowing that you were capable of doing it once, it didn’t happen by luck, it happened by skill and execution of your process. Just remember that.”Icons and ImpactTownsend first picked up a racket at the age of 4, often hitting with her older sister, Symone. While she felt connected to the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, she didn’t feel that they reflected her play as much as other tennis icons.Townsend grew up admiring the play of Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, and Donald Young Jr., whose parents, Donald Sr. and Illona, were her first tennis coaches. At the time, Young Jr. was ranked No. 1 junior player in the world, and Townsend described her early training years as “unique,” given that she was so close to someone “who was actually doing what I dreamt of doing.”Her deepest admiration went to Czech-American player Martina Navratilova, who was ranked as the world’s No. 1 women’s singles player for over 6 years, and No. 1 women’s doubles player for four-and-a-half years.”I love the way she carries herself on the court,” Townsend said, noting that she found many similarities in herself. She described the tennis legend as “a little bit rough around [the]edges,” which Townsend identifies with too. “She’s lefty, that’s me. And then she played in glasses, and I did too because I couldn’t see for the longest time,” she said.Townsend had turned professional at age 16 and, over a decade later, she told Newsweek she wants “to create a legacy…but in tennis, everything is so results-driven. I want it to be something outside of just you doing well and being a good tennis player.””I love being out here and helping [younger players],” she added, a sentiment that’s now driving her latest endeavor.Townsend is creating a nonprofit aimed at building camps and training spaces where young tennis players can be exposed to the sport and deepen their skills. She wants to “be able to give back and give information however I can, because I feel like that’s the most powerful thing—information, exposure and representation for you to be able to see that it’s possible for you to be able to have access to the thing. Then have the information that you can apply.”Getting Over ‘Mom Guilt’At 24 years old, Townsend became pregnant and “had a huge perspective shift,” she said, describing it as “more internal, like me as a person, everything shifting around.”In March 2021, Townsend gave birth to a son, Adyn Aubrey Johnson, who is now 4 years old. She noted the drastic shift in her life and game as going from “tennis being my life to now something else being my life and bigger than that.” Prior to that change, she said the sport had “literally been my entire world for my whole life.”Being pregnant and the subsequent post-birth recovery period was the first time that something had really “taken me out of the sport” for more than just a couple days or weeks, she said. Tennis, from travel to training to match play, consumed most of Townsend’s physical and mental energy up until Adyn came along.Townsend told Newsweek her “identity was wrapped into this world,” being evaluated on wins and losses, but the break away allowed her to “become my own person,” and a mother.”I feel like I’m much stronger now after having him than I was before,” the tennis star said, later noting, “I think that’s because I changed and evolved as a person.”The transition required a lot of acceptance, recognizing that she would be out of the sport for a bit, as well as a shift in prioritization.Townsend described feeling “mom guilt” both when she was away traveling for play and while at home, “because I felt like I had no time.”She added: “I had to train, I had to gym, I had to do all these things and I have someone that was watching him, but I’m here, so how am I here? But I still don’t feel like I’m spending time with [him].”That realization led her to shift from “quantity of time to quality time” with her child.Her son, who she calls AJ, understands that she has to stay away frequently for her career, often telling her before she goes: “Just make sure you bring the trophy.”Before leaving for Wimbledon last year, Townsend told him that they were going to have a “trophy party” and, after winning, she stuck to her word. She invited friends and family to celebrate the victory, with AJ staying up until the early hours of the morning.”It’s a core memory in his mind,” she said. “So he wants one every time.”The party is more than just a celebration, Townsend said, adding: “It was a way for me to acknowledge my accomplishment because my tendency in the past has always been, like, just you do it and you move on.”It was a way of “stopping, pausing and really, like, marinating in the moment with the people that I loved and care about.”Connecting the DotsTennis, possibly more so than some other sports, is a largely mental game. Her coach Williams, who has been with her over a decade, emphasizes the importance of “clarity,” finding that “confidence is a concept, clarity is a reality.”He gave the example of blindfolding someone—regardless of how good their vision is, they lose clarity and can’t see.”Sometimes what’s right in front of us has nothing to do with our ability to see it,” Williams said, adding, “It’s how clearly we can discern the differences between the things.”He noted that this premise of focusing on clarity applies across situations, from injuries to parenting, telling Newsweek: “When you’re faced with one challenge—whether it’s a challenge on the court or a challenge dealing with your child’s belligerent behavior—it doesn’t matter. It’s a challenge.”In either case, he said, the key is learning how to assess and navigate it with intention and the proper tools.Townsend said her coach and larger team help her get through difficult losses and injuries, noting that as a “very cerebral person” it’s easy for her to “get into my head.”Her coach often reminds her that she’s been in these difficult match situations before, helping her pause, take a breath and execute on experience.Emphasizing the importance of the mental game in tennis, Williams said: “Probably 85 percent of what we do is mental, psychological, intentional,” which includes analyzing and working on your psychological state after playing a touch point. The other 15 percent is more technical, ball rally and skills training.”My favorite part of coaching Taylor is seeing her connect the dots and put it together,” Williams said, describing it as the moment when “that ray of sunshine peaks through the clouds.””This is one of those sports where you have to look for even the smallest ray of sunshine and celebrate that, because there are always clouds looming,” he said.