‘Nobody Really Wants To…’ – When Martina Navratilova Was Disappointed With the Likes of Roger Federer and Justine Henin for Not Invoking Old-School Tennis

The 70s and 80s are often regarded as the most defining era of women’s tennis. However, despite having some of the biggest names in the sport compete against each other, it was Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert who led the era with utmost grace. The Czech-American player was known for her aggressive serve and volley game. A style of play that took a back seat with time.

After dominating the game for two decades, Navratilova announced her retirement from the singles format in 1994. However, she continued to play doubles and mixed doubles till 2006. Even though the 59-time Grand Slam champion tried adapting her game to the modern era, her gameplay was still dominated by the serve and volley technique. Following her retirement, she called out players like Roger Federer and Justine Henin for not encompassing old-school tennis in their game.

Martina Navratilova calls out players for differing from the old school game

Following her 59th Grand Slam win at the 2006 US Open, Navratilova indulged in a conversation with a media house. During the conversation, she expressed her disappointment at not seeing the serve and volley game in modern tennis.

Getting into the conversation, she started by asserting, “That’s a difficult thing now, because of the rackets, but I think I played tennis the way it’s supposed to be played: with some variety.”

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Catching from the time when Navratilova left the singles format, one can recall the building up of the Federer and Henin generation. The two steadily climbed the ladder of success to be counted on the list of the greatest players of all time.

Similar to the tennis world, Navratilova also addressed them as great players. However, it didn’t stop her from questioning their style of play. “You see glimpses of it (serve and volley game) with Justine Henin, with (Amelie) Mauresmo, and of course (Roger) Federer, but as great as they are, they aren’t complete tennis players.  

Even though the tennis world considers Roger Federer and other members of the ‘Big Three’ as more or less complete tennis players, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Navratilova. Going ahead in the conversation, she ended by saying, “Nobody really wants to chip and charge to the net. It would be fun to see more complete tennis.”

Do you agree with the views of Navratilova? Would you like the players in the modern era to utilize the serve and volley style more?