Sports Stars With Their Athlete Moms

Alex Ovechkin, a two-time NHL MVP with 359 career goals, learned to aim for perfection thanks to his mother, Tatiana. A basketball legend in Russia, Tatiana was a point guard and the leader of the Soviet Union national teams that won Olympic gold medals in 1976 and '80, a 1975 world championship, and six European titles. As a little kid, Alex went to her practices and watched her games. "My mom knows everything about basketball and all sports," he says. "She's tough, and she is smart. As a leader, she knows what every player needs to have success." Now 63, Tatiana is president of the Moscow Dynamo women's basketball team, and even though she's far away, Alex calls her daily for advice. ("Every decision I make, I talk to my mom first," he says.) He also wears number 8, just as she did.

Sloane Stephens made a big splash in January when, at age 19, she reached the semifinals of the Australian Open by shocking the mighty Serena Williams. It was the match of her life, and Stephens responded with great poise, playing fearless tennis to win in three sets. The idea of making the impossible possible was something Stephens learned at home. Her mother, Sybil Smith, swam in college at Boston University and became the first African-American Division I swimmer to be named All-America. At the 1988 NCAA championships, Smith finished in sixth place in the 100-meter backstroke. "I've heard a lot of kids try to explain to their parents that the parents don't know what they're going through," says Stephens. "Well, I can't really use that line with my mom!"

When Darren Collison was growing up in Rancho Cucamonga, California, he used to run around at the local park with his mom, June, an Olympic sprinter who competed for Guyana in the 400 meters at the 1984 Games. "I remember I was about eight years old and I decided to see how fast she really was," he says. "She said, 'O.K., let's race.' It was from one pole to another pole, and I think I made it halfway when she was already at the finish line." At 6' 0" and 175 pounds, Darren looks and moves like a sprinter, but he never had much interest in track and field. Instead, he wanted to carve his own niche in basketball. Like his mother, he was always a perfectionist. "Darren is very disciplined," says June. "He gets to practice on time and is the last one to leave. He always has known what he wants, and he has come up with a plan to go after it. I was like that too."

Watching the Bryan brothers play today, they look like naturals. But in many ways, they were groomed to become tennis champions from the time they were toddlers. That's what happens when you grow up with a four-time Wimbledon participant as a mom. Kathy Bryan gave private lessons to her boys twice a day for two hours from when they were five to 16. She worked on everything from their form to footwork, and the practice quickly paid off: the first title the twins won was in the 10-and-under age group. They were six. Since then, the Bryans have become the most accomplished men's doubles team of all time. Over the past decade, they have won 86 doubles titles (the most in history), including 13 Grand Slams. The twins credit Kathy for giving them athleticism and quick hands. "She was a great mover when she played and had even better volleys than we do," says Bob. Adds Mike, "However, her tennis accomplishments are not what we admire the most about her. She is the most loving mom we know."

Adrian Peterson is on pace to crack 14,000 career NFL rushing yards in 2016, which would put him third on the all-time list. But he has his eye on accomplishing a different feat of speed that year: He wants to compete for Team USA in the 400 meters at the Rio Summer Olympics. For Peterson, it's not just some fantasy. It's in his genes. In 1983, Adrian's mother, Bonita Jackson, won the Texas 3A state championship in the triple jump, the long jump, the 100 meters, and the 200 meters. "She was a world-class sprinter," says Peterson. "To have a mom who competed at a high level and really knows what comes with it -- all the attention and the criticism -- is so important to me." At one time, it seemed that Peterson might follow in his mom's footsteps. Like Jackson, Peterson was a track star in high school -- he says he ran the 400 meters in 47.6 seconds, and his best 100-meter time was a 10.19. Jackson would give him tips on his running form and how to explode around the curves of the track. "I always went into a race with the mindset that I had to be the best I could every single day," says Jackson. "So I tell Adrian, if you go out there and give it one hundred percent, I'm proud of you."