‘Humility Comes With Age’ – When Martina Navratilova Remained Unbothered by Venus and Serena Williams’ Dominant Attitude

18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova played many opponents throughout her great career. She had one of the best rivalries in tennis history with Chris Evert. Besides Evert, she played against Billie Jean King, Venus, and Serena Williams during her career.

Interestingly, she played with the Williams Sisters only once in her career, that too in a doubles match at the Wimbledon Championships in 2000. After that match, the Czech-American tennis player talked about both Venus and Serena’s attitude at such an early stage of their career. 

Martina Navratilova talked about the attitude of young Venus and Serena Williams

During the 2000 Wimbledon Championships, Navratilova was playing with Mariaan de Swardt, as the pair reached the quarter-finals. In that round, they faced two teenagers and the sister pair of Venus and Serena Williams. The match went the way of the teenagers, as Venus and Serena beat Navratilova’s team in three sets. 

Even though the sisters beat Navratilova and de Swardt, they showed great humility and respect for their opponents. Speaking about it after the match, Navratilova said, “Humility comes with age. You don’t see too many humble 18-year-olds out there. I’d rather see too much confidence than not enough.”

“They’re imposing. Sometimes they’ve talked the talk but haven’t walked the walk. They’re backing it up now,” the former Czech-American player further said. 

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Notably, Navratilova won the first set in that match, but could not match the American pair’s aggression in the next two sets. Also, that was the only time Navratilova faced the Williams sisters on the court. Previously, she expressed her sadness over not facing the sisters more often on the tour.

The Williams sisters dominated the tour for 20 years

After making their debut in the mid-90s, both Venus and Serena became dominant forces on the tour. In 1999, Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam title at the US Open, when she was just 17 years old. As for Venus, she won her first Grand Slam title a year later at Wimbledon, and in the same year, she clinched the US Open title as well.

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Apart from the singles titles at Grand Slam tournaments, the sisters paired up for 14 Grand Slam titles and 3 Olympic gold medals. So far in their career, Venus has won 7 Grand Slam singles titles and Serena, a whopping 23 major titles. Consequently, many consider Serena as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, if not the greatest.