Watch: Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, and Rosie Casals explore National Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth
Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert took a trip down history lane and even had some fun in the process as they visited the National Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. They were joined by another tennis great, Rosemary Casals, as the trio keenly learned about the history of cowgirls in the United States.
Navratilova and Evert were in Fort Worth for the 2022 WTA Finals and they took some time out to soak in a bit of history. Navratilova, Evert, and Casals were quite fascinated to learn about the lives of cowgirls back in the 1800s and 1900s, who are famously known as the first female athletes in the Wild West. The trio took a museum tour and also got a taste of being cowgirls themselves.
Martina Navratilova was surprised to learn that cowgirls back then were professional athletes and lauded them for excelling at a time when women had no rights.
"These women were way ahead of their time. They were living in a man's world where women had no rights and certainly weren't supposed to be cowgirls. And they were professional athletes, who knew?" Navratilova said.
Evert also expressed her surprise at learning about the athletic lives of cowgirls back in the day.
"Not many people know that. The cowgirls, all of those people that were born way before we were born and (there was) a lot of physicality in what they were doing and how they lived," Chris Evert said on the same.
Navratilova and Evert attended the WTA Finals this past week as Legend Ambassadors, as two of the greatest champions in the history of the year-end championships. Evert won four and Navratilova won eight singles titles in the WTA Finals, and between them, they won 12 of the first 16 editions of the tournament.
Iga Swiatek overwhelmed by Martina Navratilova's presence at WTA Finals
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek joked that she found it difficult to focus during her 2022 WTA Finals round-robin match against Caroline Garcia, seeing Martina Navratilova seated in the stands during the match. Navratilova was one of the on-court interviewers after Swiatek's match earlier this week and jokingly told the Polish superstar that the biggest problem she seemed to have in an otherwise easy win was tying her shoelaces.
Swiatek replied by telling Navratilova that her biggest focus was indeed trying to stay focused after she saw the tennis great in the front row.
"The biggest problem I had was keeping focus when you’re sitting here," Iga Swiatek told Martina Navratilova.
Meanwhile, Garcia won the 2022 WTA Finals on Monday night, beating Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final to cap off one of the best seasons of her career. Sabalenka defeated top seed Swiatek in the semifinals.