"They won more money, more Slams because she wasn't around"- When Martina Navratilova slammed WTA stars for opposing Monica Seles' No. 1 reinstatement
Martina Navratilova once criticized several women's tennis players for opposing Monica Seles' reinstatement as the joint World No. 1.
Seles, who won eight Grand Slams by the time she was only 19, was stabbed on her shoulder by Gunter Parche, a fan of Steffi Graf's in Hamburg in 1993. She was the World No. 1 at the time and there was talk of retaining her No. 1 ranking despite her inactivity.
However, 16 out of 17 players who voted on this matter, were against that and her ranking was not retained. Seles was out of action for two years and returned to tennis in 1995.
Martina Navratilova, who was the president of the WTA Players' Association at the time, called for Monica Seles to be reinstated as the joint World No. 1 alongside Graf, something which was opposed by a few players.
Navratilova slammed the players for rejecting the proposal, claiming that they were the ones who benefited from her absence as they won more money and more Grand Slams because of that.
"The tournament promoters want her and want what's best for thegame a lot more than the players. The players protect their turf more than, I think, the tournament promoters," Martina Navratilova said as quoted by the Washington Post.
"And I think that's what's frustrating to me, that the players benefited the most from Monica's absence, because they won more money, they won more Grand Slams because she wasn't around, and they're not willing to give back to her perhaps what they gained by her absence," she added.
Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles squared off in 14 finals
Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles locked horns on 17 occasions and 14 of these came in finals. Seles won nine title clashes while Navratilova won the other five.
The very first encounter between the two came in a final in Dallas, with the Czech-American winning 7-6(2), 6-3. Seles won their next clash at a final by registering a 6-1, 6-1 in Rome in 1990.
The most notable final between the two came at the 1991 US Open, with the then-Yugoslav winning 7-6(1), 6-1 to win her first title at the New York Major.
The last match between Navratilova and Seles came in the final of the Open Gaz de France in 1993, with the former winning a thriller 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3) to clinch her 163rd WTA singles title.