Former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki is a mom. The 34-year-old German announced in the last week that she recently gave birth to a daughter named Bella.
"Our hearts are filled with love and happiness as we are humbled to welcome Bella to our world," Lisicki wrote on Instagram on Sept. 8 alongside a photo of her and fiancé cradling the baby's head.
Lisicki's news adds to a baby boom of sorts on the Hologic WTA Tour this year, as Belinda Bencic, Petra Kvitova and Alison Riske-Amritraj all gave birth in the last six month. Bencic welcomed a daughter (coincidentally, also named Bella) in April, while Kvitova and Riske-Amritraj welcomed little Petr and Calen within days of each other in July.
Current and former peers of Lisicki's dotted the comments of her Instagram post with congratulations, including former doubles World No.1 Timea Babos, Ashlyn Krueger, Magdalench Frech, Eva Lys and Shelby Rogers -- with the recently-retired Rogers commenting: "Beautiful miracle! Congratulations!"
When she announced her pregnancy in March, Lisicki promised fans "one more comeback" -- a nod to the many times in her career that the soon-to-be 35-year-old was sidelined with injuries like ankle problems, a torn ACL, and even a bout of mononucleosis. In 2023, the German won her first title of any kind in nine years with a victory at an ITF W60 in Calgary, Canada -- a win at the time that she called "surreal" following 18 months out after injuring her knee in 2020. She last played a professional-level match in December of last year.
In addition to her runner-up finish to Marion Bartoli at the All England Club 11 years ago, Lisicki reached the quarterfinals or better at Wimbledon four other times -- including the semifinals as a wild card in 2011. The former World No.12, who reached her career-high ranking in 2012, boasts four career WTA singles titles, four more in doubles, and was also a doubles finalist at Wimbledon in 2011.
