‘We Never Took Bathroom Breaks’ – Martina Navratilova Points Out a Blunder Made in Venus and Serena Williams’s King Richard

Martina Navratilova is without a doubt one of the most celebrated and decorated names in women’s tennis. The Czechoslovakian-turned American is one of the most successful players, having records to her name that remain untouched till date. Moreover, the 65-year-old was also one of the most influential tennis players during her time.

Being a successful player for a long time, Navratilova has always been crystal clear about her take on all matters. An example of the same was seen recently.

Yesterday, Navratilova took to Twitter as she put out a tweet in the context of a much-talked about topic in tennis, the bathroom break. However, what comes in as a lookout is that her tweet was not in reference to any latest incident. Instead, her tweet came in for an incident that took place in 1994.

Martina Navratilova tweets in for a 1994 incident

Being at her prime in the ‘1980s, Navratilova’s gigantic aura had started declining in the ’90s. The phase of the early and mid-’90s saw a number of new players making an entry into the tennis world. One such player and one such year was Venus Williams in 1994. Being coached by her father Richard Williams and coach Rick Macci, Venus made her professional debut at the 1994 Bank of the West Classic.

Playing her first professional tournament, Venus beat Shaun Stafford in the first-round. However, she was beaten by the top seeded player of the tournament, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the second-round. A similar thing was shown in the recently released movie ‘King Richard’. However, the controversy arose for a scene in the movie that Vicario found incorrect. 

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As per the scene in the movie, Arantxa took a washroom break in middle of the second set. However, recalling the match, Arantxa denied the scene, asserting that she did not take a toilet break.

Coming out in support of her longtime friend and arch rival Arantxa, Martina Navratilova tweeted, “AFAIK, it didn’t happen at all. We never took bathroom breaks back then and certainly not as a ploy…”

Unfolding the controversy

Recalling the score-line of the match, Venus had won the first set 6-2 and was leading the second-set 3-1. A similar score-line was presented in the movie. However, what caught Vicario’s eye was the scene just after 3-1.

In the movie ‘King Richard’, the Spanish player was shown taking a washroom break at 3-1. However, going by the tennis rules, a player cannot move out of the court at odd games. Taking this point into consideration, the former World No. 1 asserted that the movie has wrongly portrayed her.

Also, another point of conflict arose when Vicario took notice of the time taken by her during the washroom break as per the movie. In the movie, it is reportedly shown that Vicario took a long washroom break. However, going by the tennis rules, a player gets penalized for staying longer in the washroom than the allotted time.

Taking the above points into consideration, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario asserted that the movie has portrayed her as a ‘very bad person’.  

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