Roger Federer and Martina Navratilova are two of tennis’ best-ever exports.
However, in 2011, they endured a rather public disagreement, sparked by the latter’s prediction.
Having just witnessed the Swiss superstar, who was 30 at the time, lose to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of Indian Wells, she felt like this marked a sign of the times.
The Serbian went on to defeat Rafael Nadal in the final, leaving Roger Federer sat third in the world rankings.
Navratilova, reacting at the tournament’s conclusion, felt like this was the beginning of the end for the former world number one.
When Martina Navratilova claimed that Roger Federer would struggle to return to world number one
She claimed: “He lost in the semi and Djokovic beat Nadal in the final, so Djokovic is certainly playing great tennis.
“Roger is on the other side of the float, I don’t think he’ll ever play as well as he did three or four years ago – that’s not to say he can’t still win a slam, but it’s difficult to see him climbing back to number one.
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“Nadal is dominating and Djokovic’s confidence is off the chart. Roger has lost three matches (this season) to Djokovic and lost to him at US Open last year as well, it will get under his skin.”
However, Federer was not willing to take such criticism lying down. His reply, whilst biting, was as classy as ever: “Maybe she missed the London World Tour Finals.
“Maybe she was somewhere else climbing Kilimanjaro. I love her. Look, I think she’s been an inspiration to my wife [Mirka] and I always love seeing her, but if you had the microphone in front of you and you get a negative question, you get dragged into it. And she’s in front of the microphone a lot of times like other experts and eventually you can’t just say only good things. You have to also say more negative things.”
This is even more ironic given who Navratilova picked as her GOAT in 2019, snubbing Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Even Andy Roddick chimed in, adding: “It’s ridiculous. Whoever wants to criticise Roger for the way he’s playing tennis right now better be very, very good at their job.”
How Roger Federer proved Martina Navratilova wrong
It’s fair to say that Federer proved Navratilova wrong, given how he reacted over the following years.
Whilst his next major title after these comments came at Wimbledon in 2012, in 2017 he thrived, winning two more in Melbourne and Wimbledon again before his last-ever Grand Slam came at the 2018 Australian Open.
Federer rose to the top of the rankings again in November 2012, and then after his final triumph in Melbourne, became the oldest world number one in the history of the sport at 36 years old.
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Navratilova could not have been more wrong in her assessment of the 20-time Grand Slam champion, who revolutionised the sport with his incredible talent.
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