Jesus Creed
When it comes to balancing long-term relationships and careers, professional men’s tennis players seem to do a better job than their female counterparts.
Maria Kirilenko recently announced that she was breaking offher engagement to hockey star Alex Ovechkin. She became the third high-profile professional woman’s tennis player in the past two years to see marriage plans derailed.
Earlier this year Rory McIlroy called off his engagement to Caroline Wozniacki after invitations had gone out. Maria Sharapova‘s nearly two-year engagement to basketball player Sasha Vujacic ended in 2012.
Meanwhile, last week world No. 1 Novak Djokovic married his childhood sweetheart Jelena Ristic. She is pregnant with their first child. Djokovic is among three married men in the top four. Li Na is the only married woman in the Top 25. Svetlana Kuznetsova, ranked No. 26, is also married.
The lack of married female tennis stars is a reflection of society. No matter how many glass ceilings are broken in boardrooms, the truth is that the burden of balancing work/life falls mainly on the shoulders of women….
That’s probably why many top female tennis players postpone marriage until after they retire. It’s not because they are tennis stars. It’s because they are career women with a unique lifestyle that’s just not conducive to a happy marriage.
Insert teacher, doctor, lawyer or accountant. Doesn’t matter what profession. Show me any young, attractive, wealthy professional woman who travels all the time and is rarely home. Unless she has a male Mirka, that’s a woman who needs to stay single.
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