"The bounce back has been difficult" - Taylor Townsend on her first WTA win after two-and-a-half years and childbirth

After winning her first WTA main-draw match in over two years at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, American tennis player Taylor Townsend spoke on the challenges she faced during that period, as she also gave birth to her son.

Townsend defeated Storm Sanders 6-1 6-4 in the first round, recording her first victory on Tour since the 2020 Australian Open.

"I think I played well," Townsend told WTA Insider after the win. "It always feels good coming through qualifying. You get to kind of work out some kinks. Haven't played a singles match in like probably like six weeks, so it's been a while."

The victory was made even sweeter by the fact that the 26-year old had given birth to her son Adyn in April of last year, and had to work hard to get back in tennis shape. She returned to competition earlier this spring in April and proceeded to make back-to-back quarterfinals on the ITF circuit before winning her third event at the ITF W100 in Charleston. Now in the best shape of her life, the former Junior No.1 is ready to tackle the tour once again.

However, it was not an easy path as Townsend underwent a C-section during delivery, but remained committed as she battled to achieve her goal of returning to the professional tour.

"The bounce-back, it's been difficult," admitted Townsend. "The biggest thing was just making that commitment to myself and understanding that this is a journey. It's not going to happen overnight. Just like I didn't blow up overnight. It was a process. So it's going to take a while and just being kind to myself and understanding that sometimes it happened faster, sometimes the progress was slower. But being OK with that, it was difficult, you know?

"It's still difficult even now because even though I'm definitely in the best shape in my life, I was like, why do I still see a gut (laughs)? And then I have to check myself. Oh yeah, you did have a kid. I have to put stuff in perspective. It's hard to do that sometimes but you have to. Honestly, the biggest word that I could say is just acceptance of where you are and having a goal and you're just doing what you can. Put one foot in front of the other."

The former World No.61 will take on Daria Kasatkina in the next round in San Jose.