"Chris Evert and I got big offer and didn't go" - Martina Navratilova praises John McEnroe's decision not to play in South Africa due to Apartheid
Former tennis professional Martina Navratilova remembered when she and Chris Evert, just like John McEnroe, didn't go to South Africa to play in a competition due to their opposition to Apartheid.
Navratilova chimed in on the topic of the WTA Finals in 2023 possibly being held in Saudi Arabia, which has been the talk on the women's tennis tour.
The 18-time Grand Slam singles champion had also talked about being criticized for saying she would not go to Saudi Arabia to play in the WTA Finals if she was playing today.
One of Navratilova's fans replied to her on Twitter with a story about the legendary John McEnroe not going to South Africa in 1980 due to Apartheid. This was a political system based on racial segregation and denial of equal rights to the non-white citizens of the country.
"Much respect. I still remember John McEnroe refusing to play in South Africa in 1980 when they offered him $2-5 million (equal to 10-30 mil today) because of Apartheid. I wasn't a Johnny Mac [fan] until then (more of a Borg guy). I am still in awe of John since then," the fan stated.
Navratilova replied, revealing that she and the legendary Chris Evert didn't go to South Africa around the same time either.
"Chris and I got a big offer to go to South Africa in the 80s and also didn't go," Navratilova wrote.
Players at the US Open, which begins on Monday, August 28, had mixed opinions about the prospect of playing a future edition of the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia. This was after the women's tour said it had not ruled out the idea of holding the season-ending competition there.
Tunisian Ons Jabeur said she was in favor of the idea as a way of bringing more Arab women into tennis.
"I know in Saudi, they're changing things and they're evolving. If they play there, and hopefully if I qualify, it will be a great honor and opportunity for me to go and play there," Jabeur answered.
World No. 3 Jessica Pegula stated that she would have to see a lot more pros than cons in order to compete in Saudi Arabia for the WTA Finals.
"It's just going to have to be the right arrangement and we're going to have to know if we go there, okay, well, we want to be making a change and you need to help us do that," Pegula said.
"Come on, just suck it up" - Martina Navratilova sends message to Iga Swiatek before US Open 2023
Martina Navratilova sent a message to World No. 1 Iga Swiatek before the 2023 US Open, telling the Pole to "just suck it up."
Swiatek had previously said that she felt "her tank of fuel was pretty empty" after losing to Coco Gauff in the semifinal of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Navratilova believes that Swiatek playing her home WTA 250 event in Poland could be the cause of this.
"The stress on the players, I understand that – and Iga being Polish, she had to play Warsaw. Normally, if she wasn't Polish, she would have never played and would have taken an extra couple of weeks of rest, so maybe that's why she's tired," Navratilova said.
Nevertheless, the 18-time Grand Slam singles champion doesn't think fatigue is a valid excuse.
"But I still have to say, 'Come on, just suck it up'. It's September, you didn't play that many tournaments and this is the US Open. So, if you can't get up for that... if you're that mentally tired, don't play," Navratilova stated.
The 66-year-old went on to tell Swiatek to just not play the US Open if she is too tired.
"Take the time off and concentrate on the season-ending tournament. Just take the time off. Force yourself to take the vacation. That's okay. I never gave myself permission to do that, never occurred to me that I could do that," Martina Navratilova said.
"Or just get on with it and say, 'Okay, I'm fine. It's just two weeks, it's seven matches. I literally have to work hard maybe 20 hours, these next two weeks.'" she added.