Martina Navratilova retired from professional tennis just months before her 50th birthday.
Navratilova is considered one of the greats, having an Open Era record of 59 Grand Slam titles across singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
The American is also known for speaking her mind and now does so as a pundit, with Navratilova recently commenting on Joao Fonseca following his momentus Argentina Open victory.
She was also frequently sharing opinions at the Australian Open, with Navratilova reacting to Madison Keys’ win in Melbourne.
Navratilova finished her career at the 2006 US Open, and did not hold back about her concerns for tennis going forward.
Martina Navratilova explains her concerns after retiring at the 2006 US Open
After spending an unprecedented 32 years as a professional tennis player, Navratilova competed in her last tournament at the 2006 US Open.
At the age of 49 years and 10 months, Navratilova made history and won the mixed doubles title alongside compatriot Bob Bryan in her final ever match.
In the final press conference of her professional career, Navratilova was asked about women’s singles champion Maria Sharapova and what she thought about tennis going forward.
Navratilova talent spotted Sharapova from an early age, but admitted that she was concerned about the future of the sport.
“I have concerns about the game, period, in that it’s become really a baseliner’s game, and a, you know, hitter’s game,” said Navratilova. “It’s not a player’s game. That’s for both men and the women.
“But as far as Maria is concerned, I just saw how focused she was. She was hardly looking at her father during the match. She was very, very relaxed. She looked very relaxed out there.
“And I felt Justine [Henin] never could get going. She couldn’t she didn’t have enough long rallies where she started using all her shots and mixing it up, and she just couldn’t get into the flow of the match.
“And Maria has been serving so well the whole tournament, you felt that she was going to hold her serve more than Justine. And that’s what happened, yeah.”
With Navratilova speaking about the changes in the way that tennis is being played, someone in the press conference referenced the game of 2006 US Open men’s singles champion Roger Federer as a counter argument.
Navratilova accepted that Federer was an exception to what she had said, but suggested that generally players were progressively avoiding coming to the net, something that she was not used to having grown up in an era of serve and volleying.
“No, of course. There are exceptions to the rule,” admitted Navratilova. “But by and large, you know, you see a lot of players, men and women, they come to the net, and they’re not they don’t really want to be there. They run backwards or they hit a volley. Now you know why they’re not at the net.
“You don’t see as many all around players. What players can do with the ball, what Roger can do with the ball, Amelie [Mauresmo] and Justine, etc., is amazing. But, I mean, I’m doing things more with the ball than I did 20 years ago because of the racquets. So I’m playing a different style. Everybody’s playing a different style.
“And in some ways, it’s good, but in some ways it’s detrimental, because the game has become more one dimensional and it’s made it really, really difficult to succeed at the net. If you come to the net, it’s just too hard to be good at it because they dip the ball, you have to volley up, you’re a sitting duck. You’re done.
“So, no. The way Roger plays the game is phenomenal. But we need more, you know, players like him.”
Was Martina Navratilova right to have these concerns?
Tennis is a constantly changing sport, and it is hard to argue with some of Navratilova’s claims about players coming to the net less frequently over the years.
Matches are becoming longer and more physical, highlighted by late finishes such as the near five hour contest between Daniil Medvedev and Learner Tien at the Australian Open that did not conclude until 2:55am.
Like in 2006, there are still some exceptions to the rules with big servers like Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard utilising his weapons to come into the net.
Despite the sport changing over time, interest does not appear to be dwindling and if anything is getting bigger than ever with record attendances at the US Open last year.
This has forced the US Open expand in 2025 for the first time, following the Australian Open and Roland Garros with this move.
Navratilova won her final Grand Slam title in New York, and now the US Open are also changing mixed doubles.
This decision has caused huge backlash for the US Open, with last year’s champions releasing a strong statement opposing the tournament.
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