Serena Williams has described the new changes to the ‘Special Ranking’ rule introduced by the WTA for 2019 as “great”.

She believes the move will encourage more players to take a break from the tour to have children then come back to resume their careers.

MSN.com reports, under the new rules, returning mothers who have a special ranking that would earn them a seeded position can be drawn as an ‘additional seed’ at tournaments.

This means they would not be able to face a seed in the opening round of a tournament.

This change also ensures that no seed will get bumped as a result of a returning mother given a protected seeding.