Martina Navratilova is a tennis legend for
a couple of thousand of reasons, one of them was her incredible longevity (she
won the Mix Double title at the US Open when she was about to turn 50!)
Talking about longevity Martina Navratilova
says that tennis players are right about being upset of the current schedules.
‘If that’s the only way they can get to
that point, then that’s what they have to do if they can unify themselves
enough and that’s the last resort.’
‘Of course all tennis players want to play. That’s what you train for. But I
was complaining about the calendar being too long 25 years ago, saying we need
to shorten it.’
‘We have shortened it on the women’s side.
Women play about a month less than the guys. But now, especially with the Davis
Cup and the top players being involved in the Davis Cup, for a Nadal or a
Djokovic or a Federer, then that schedule
is just untenable. We are talking about longevity.’
‘They are playing on hard surfaces
with metal racquets and everybody hits the ball harder. It’s definitely more
taxing on the body.’
‘It’s too much. The players are the
only ones who are suffering. You have one body and one career and you want to
make the most of it.’
‘We are the only sport in the world
that does not have an off-season. It’s crazy. You cannot do that year after
year.’
We all want Novak, Roger and Rafa to play
till they are 35… this is already quite challenging… with this kind of
schedules… it looks impossible…
