Martina Navratilova has fought for equal rights before and is still in the game on that matter. She dealt with more than her fair share of hardships during her career. A crucial part of this was because she wanted the sport to be more accepting of women. She endeavored to prove her gender’s worth in order to make a future that treats WTA the same way as ATP. Though to this date, some things haven’t changed.
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The matter of equal prize money is still in debate. However, Navratilova is ready and young enough to fight for that as well. In fact, she also slammed Novak Djokovic for taking a stand against the demands.
Martina Navratilova responds to Djokovic’s statements
The 18 times Grand Slam champion, while speaking for a podcast, stumbled on a question about what she thinks of Djokovic’s argument on the matter. To which she responded, “I don’t think that is gonna go anywhere.”
“But he has said it before. Four years ago, he made the same statement that women shouldn’t be paid the same as men at the majors because men bring in more spectators,” she recalled.
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – OCTOBER 16: Tennis legend Martina Navratilova, speaks during the Australian Open Women In Focus Lunch at M on the Bud on October 16, 2015 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Hu Chengwei/Getty Images for Tennis Australia)
Following that, the veteran presented her analogy. “Well, if you really wanna measure ourselves by that, then Serena Williams should be the highest get paid player along with Nadal and Federer. And Djokovic would be the fourth highest paid player, right?”
Apart from Djokovic‘s volume of spectators factor, people also argue that women shouldn’t receive equal prize money due to the fact that unlike men they play only three sets in Grand Slams. Therefore, the lesser the time spent on the court, the lesser the reward.
Navratilova’s struggle
The nine times Wimbledon champion had a very rough start. She not only failed on the tours but also on the task of developing a bond with Americans. Navratilova gained a tag of an ungrateful, complaining outsider. Further, later, when she started dominating tournaments and became Chris Evert’s biggest rival, people again dragged her for her not-so-feminine build.
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She was called names and was accused of having an unfair advantage over her opponents. Though Navratilova paid no heed to the allegations and performed her run in the sport. In fact, she provided backing to the 23 times Grand Slam champion Serena Williams when she went through a similar lash-out.
