Rival players support seeding Serena at French Open

Williams, who is expected to play in her first major since returning from maternity leave, should also receive a top seed that befits the No. 1 ranking she held when she left the tour, the players say.

The WTA Tour said it is considering a rule change to add protected seeding for highly-ranked players returning from maternity leave but the earliest that could take effect is next year.

"I would like to see that change," Maria Sharapova said. "It's such an incredible effort for a woman to come back from physically, emotionally. … There's just another whole dimension to the travel, to the experiences, to the emotions to the physicality of every single day. "Tennis is such a selfish sport but I think when there's a child in your life you lose a little bit of that, because there's something that's so much more important," added Sharapova, who has lost three Grand Slam finals to Williams. "So yeah, I definitely think that would be a nice change."

The French Open draw will be made Thursday, with the tournament starting on Sunday.

All Grand Slam events make their own decisions on seeding players, so it's still possible that Roland Garros will make Williams one of the 32 seeded players even though her current ranking is down to near No. 500.

Otherwise, Williams could be forced to play top-ranked players in the early rounds.

The French tennis federation did not respond to a request for comment.

"It's normal to give birth to a kid. It's normal to have protected ranking. … It's more than tennis," top-ranked Simona Halep said. "So the people will decide what seed she will get. But in my opinion it's good to protect the ranking when someone is giving birth."

Williams returned to the tour briefly this year, after a 14-month absence to give birth to her daughter. She was not seeded at tournaments in Indian Wells, California, and Miami, and compiled two wins and two losses.