Taylor Townsend was not thinking about serves or returns just a few hours before one of her biggest matches of the week. She was with her toddler, going through his morning routine- asthma treatment and all- in a hotel room at Indian Wells. 

The American doubles star is with her partner Katerina Siniakova for the WTA Finals at Indian Wells. She gave her followers a glimpse of that routine on her Instagram story. The photo showed her lying on a hotel bed next to her five-year-old son, Adyn, throwing up a peace sign for the camera while he rested beside her. The caption was an athlete parent’s take on match day preparation. 

“Hotel baseball, asthma treatments, and Tom and Jerry to start the morning,” she wrote. There was no mention of the tennis waiting for her later that day. 

Townsend gave birth to Adyn in March 2021 and returned to the tour the following year, initially using a protected ranking to get back into the draws. What followed was the best run of her career. Motherhood didn’t slow her down, but it sharpened her sense of purpose, and she has spoken many times about travelling the world with her son. 

The Indian Wells snapshot—featuring cartoons, hotel games and medical care—is the reality behind the trophies she has won since. 

The 30-year-old is a single mother who competes on the full tour of both singles and doubles. Townsend’s family is a huge support to her in nurturing and upbringing Adyn, her parents and sisters, who take care of him when she’s away and not possible to take him with her. The American has never revealed the identity of his father and has kept her former relationship completely hidden. 

There are very few players on the tour who are single mothers and compete fully as WTA players. Naomi Osaka is another single mother on the tour who manages life with her daughter, Shai. Townsend and Osaka are also very good friends off the court and have been spotted taking vacations together. 

It’s not easy for female athletes to give birth and then reach the heights of the sport. Townsend shares the elite company of Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Belinda Bencic, Elina Svitolina, and a few others.

Townsend and Siniakova fight to qualify for the semifinals at the WTA Finals

Townsend is at the season-ending event as one half of the most successful doubles team in women’s tennis right now. Alongside Siniakova, the duo is chasing their third consecutive semifinal at the WTA Finals, having reached the final in 2024 and the semifinals in 2025. The pair have had a remarkable 2026, winning the French Open and the US Open together and completing a hat-trick of WTA 1000 titles at Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid.

Errani and Paolini, who topped the group, beat them in their opening match on Sunday. Townsend and Siniakova hit back on Tuesday, seeing off Ellen Perez and Demi Schuurs 7-6(2), 6-3 to stay alive. In the third group stage match against Cristina Bucsa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez, with a semifinal place on the line, the duo were cruising at 6-2, 4-2 when their opponents were forced to retire midway through the second set. The walkover over the line sent the second seeds through as the Group 2 runner-up, with a 2-1 record.

It was that match Townsend had been preparing for when she posted from her hotel room, and the reward is another shot at the one WTA Finals title that has eluded her. She and Siniakova will now face the winner of the other group in the semifinals. That left them waiting on Friday’s results, with top seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani the likely opponents after leading their group.

That Instagram story was a perfect portrayal of how Townsend manages her professional career and his son’s upbringing at the same time.