"It's just wrong" - Martina Navratilova heartbroken over tennis players potentially taking Saudi Arabia's 'blood money'
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova recently expressed her heartbreak over tennis players potentially accepting 'blood money' from Saudi Arabia.
There have been reports that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund had 'positive' talks with the ATP Tour about a potential partnership. Andrea Gaudenzi, chairman of the ATP, has revealed that he has discussed a deal with PIF.
Billie Jean King, a tennis legend and women's rights activist, has now revealed that the WTA is also open to doing business with Saudi Arabia in the future. During the WTA's 50th anniversary celebrations in London, King stated that the collaboration could benefit both parties.
Many tennis players, including Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Casper Ruud, have expressed their support for this potential investment.
In light of this, Martina Navratilova took to Twitter to express her thoughts. The 18-time Grand Slam champion stated that it is "very wrong" and that she is "heartbroken" about the idea.
"I am heartbroken about it. It’s just wrong," she wrote.
I am heartbroken about it. It’s just wrong. twitter.com/jeffjarvis/sta…
Martina Navratilova opened up about how poorly the tennis world reacted to her coming out as lesbian
Martina Navratilova came out as a lesbian back in 1981 and has been married to her wife — "The Real Housewives of Miami" star Julia Lemigova — for eight years.
However, things weren't easy for the star when she came out of the closet, as she revealed in 2022 that she was always subjected to jeers and muted applause because of her sexual orientation.
"I didn't really see it face-to-face, it was kind of the bigger picture when I was introduced to come on the court. Everybody was cheering when Chris Evert was introduced or Evonne Goolagong, but when I came out onto the court it was muted applause," Navratilova said in an interview with Julie Bindel.
"There were some jeers, some whistles. It was hard not to take it personally but I realized it was mostly because I was gay. Some of it was because I was winning too much perhaps," she added.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion went on to say that Roger Federer never received such a hostile welcome as she did and that even when Federer had more fans, people cheered for Rafael Nadal when he walked onto the court, which was not the case with her.
"But Roger Federer never got that kind of welcome, right? Nobody jeers when Roger Federer walks onto the court. Even Rafa Nadal. Even if people are not big fans or they're in the Federer corner, they still cheer when Rafa walks onto the court. But that was not the case with me," Martina Navratilova said.