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Aussie tennis star Casey Dellacqua gives birth to first child

Yahoo Sport Australia

Four months after revealing she retired from tennis to return the favour and carry a child for her partner, Casey Dellacqua has given birth to a baby boy.

The grand slam doubles champion retired last April to spend more time with her partner Amanda Judd and their two children.

Months later she announced she was pregnant, and on Tuesday the 34-year-old gave birth to Jesse James Judd.

“She’s done most of the hard work till now, giving birth to our first two,” Dellacqua told AAP in November.

“Obviously she allowed me to continue with my sport and to do what I love, which is great. We’re a really good team and we balance each other out and are always willing to support each other.

“But, as a female, pregnancy was something I wanted to experience as well and we always knew we wanted three children so it was my turn to carry.

“I’m very grateful that I’m getting to experience this. It’s very exciting and I really can’t wait to meet the baby.”

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Hard to believe this time last year I was gearing up for another Australian Open vs this year 32 weeks pregnant 😱🎾🤰 so proud of what I achieved throughout my career but so happy where I’m at in life now and can’t wait to meet our new little bubba soon 👶🏼❤️😍 in the mean time I’m looking forward to being at the AO “waddling” around and doing some more commentating over the next couple of weeks 😂🎤 #keepmeintheaircon #mummasohotandbothered #summeroftennis #ausopen2019 #busyworkingmum

A post shared by CASEY DELLACQUA (@caseydellacqua) on Jan 12, 2019 at 11:09pm PST

Dellacqua worked through the Australian Open as part of the global commentary team and continued in her role as a Tennis Australia development coach.

Tennis mum Judy Murray and Aussie tennis great Todd Woodbridge led the congratulations:

Apart from winning the 2011 French Open mixed title with American Scott Lipsky, Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty are the only Australian pairing in the 50-year open era to reach all four women’s grand slam doubles finals.

Along with Jelena Dokic and Samantha Stosur, the free-hitting left-hander was also the only Australian woman in the past 20 years to reach the second week of two different singles majors.

The West Australian knew she gave up a lucrative career for love but has no regrets.

“I could have had a long successful career in doubles going well in to my 40s, I guess, but it’s not something I ever even thought about since the kids have come along,” Dellacqua said.

“For me, the kids are only young once and I had kids because I wanted to be around and spend a lot of time with them.

“So it was important for me that I made family a priority and I basically just missed my family too much when I was away.

“I just want to be at home with my family. We’re just a very happy, normal family.”

with AAP