‘Wasnt Allowed to Use the Regular Locker Room’ – Martina Navratilova Takes a Heart-Breaking Althea Gibson Example to Show How Serena Williams Transcended Sport

Recently, the US Open saw the final match of Serena Williams, as they gave her a tearful send-off. Since making her debut in 1995, she has been dominating women’s tennis. While dominating, she also brought a lot of changes to tennis and the mindset of people about the African-American community.

Recently, Martina Navratilova opened up about the contribution of Serena Williams to women’s tennis, especially for all African-American athletes. Moreover, Navratilova brought out Althea Gibson’s example, who was one of the very first African-American tennis players to play the sport.

Martina Navratilova opens up about Serena Williams’ contribution to tennis

In a recent interview, the 18-time Grand Slam champion, Navratilova, talked about the diversity in tennis right now and how it changed since Serena’s debut back in 1995. “It used to be just Europe and English-speaking countries for the most part. All the other countries were like the poor cousins, and so the game became much more international. And more diversified, color-wise. Tennis is not a welcoming sport for people of color,” Navratilova said. 

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Then, she talked about Althea Gibson, who was the first African-American player to win a Grand Slam title. Speaking about her, Navratilova said, “Althea broke the color line in the 50s when Jackie Robinson was doing it in the major leagues. Althea wasn’t allowed to use the regular locker room, so we’ve come a long way.“

“Let’s put it this way: Serena not only pushed the color barrier. She just blew through that door,” Navratilova further said about Serena‘s contribution to the game. Notably, Gibson dominated women’s tennis in the 1950s, as she won her first Grand Slam title in 1956 at Roland Garros. Later, she went on to win the Wimbledon and the US Open as well.

Navratilova sends a twisted farewell message to Serena

Notably, on Friday, Serena lost in the third round at the US Open, which was her last ever match. After that match, she gave an emotional interview, as she said goodbye to the tennis world.

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Many tennis stars, celebrities, and other sporting personalities paid homage to the tennis player. Interestingly, Martina Navratilova wrote a nice but twisted message. According to the former tennis player, she is not ready to say goodbye to Serena just yet because she did not hear the word retirement from Serena’s mouth.

Meanwhile, Serena is looking to focus on the next phase of her life, as she wants to be a mom and become more successful in the business world. However, we could still see her in the future, as fans are still hopeful about it.