‘Had to Work His B**T Off’ – Martina Navratilova Takes Rod Laver’s Example to Cite How Difficult It Was to Make a Living From Tennis

Martina Navratilova is one of the first women tennis players to garner immense fame during her playing days. While the sport was largely male dominant, Navratilova and Chris Evert changed the world’s perspective on women’s tennis.

In a recent interview, Navratilova opened up about how she got the motivation to play tennis along with the moment she decided to make a career in professional tennis.

Navratilova on making money from tennis

Unlike what many would think, one of the best tennis players of all time, Navratilova, started playing tennis because it helped her travel the world. As there was not a lot of money involved in the tournament in the early stage.

“It was more of a possibility of travel. The career thing didn’t happen until much later, like when I was maybe 14-15,” she said.

Further, she gave the example of Rod Laver to tell how difficult it was to make money initially for even big players.

“Rod Laver signed a professional contract when I was six-seven years old for a hundred thousand dollars, but he had to work his b**t off for that and it was after he won the grand slam so it wasn’t exactly a career to play tennis. You didn’t really make money,” she added.

Read more: ‘Problems Just Don’t Seem That Big’ – Martina Navratilova Had Her Own Way to Keep Her Mind and Body in Shape

The money element came up when she turned pro. However, the legend was not happy with the difference in prize money for women.

“It was when I turned pro in ’68, I was 12 years old then. The possibilities were there, but again, women were getting much less prize money than men. So for me, it was more of a way of traveling and maybe making some money for the family so we can buy a car,” she concluded.

Martina Navratilova on equal prize money

Apart from being a champion athlete, the legend has always voiced her opinion on issues concerning social rights and equality. She has often publically criticized the tournament organizers for providing lesser prize money for the women’s category.

Back in 2018, she made a shocking revelation that the money she gets as a commentator was at least ten times lesser than the male commentators.

Watch this story:  Chris Evert narrated heart-breaking personal incident to praise Martina Navratilova for her continuous support 

Earlier this year, she expressed her disappointment over the difference in prize money in the Rome Open. Despite the notable improvements brought to the sport in recent years, prominent personalities like Navratilova’s views show that the tennis world has to make several drastic changes to achieve equality in pay.