‘You Get Nervous When You Get Older’ – Martina Navratilova Reflects on Why Serena Williams Failed to Better a Staggering Record

Things looked bright for Serena Williams as she lifted her 23rd Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2017. With this victory, she was just one major title away from equaling Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles. However, at the time of her victory, Serena was pregnant and subsequently took a break from tennis.

After giving birth to her daughter, Olympia, Serena returned to the circuit during the 2018 season. Despite digging deep at Grand Slam tournaments, the American legend failed to win her 24th major title. Tennis legend, Martina Navratilova, opened up about why Serena failed to win a major title following her return to tennis after maternity leave.

Navratilova about why Serena Williams couldn’t break Court’s record

During ‘The Ladies Room’ podcast, Martina Navratilova explained Serena’s failure to win her 24th Grand Slam title. She said, “The weight of history is very heavy and it’s really hard to overcome especially when you get older.”

Further, she added, “It’s one thing when you have a chance to break a record when you’re still young whatever that record might be but this kind of record takes long time to get to it because it’s just so many majors and even though she’s had four chances every year, it’s not like the Olympics where you have one chance every four years, you have four chances every year which is basically 16 Olympics in four years. It’s still, the pressure keeps building because she has been so close.” 

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Concluding her remarks, Navratilova said, “You get more nervous when you get older… And because you are older, all the things can go wrong and it’s hard to keep the mind clear.”

Navratilova defends Chris Evert

Recently, Djokovic opened up about his rivalry with Rafael Nadal and said that the two had played more matches against each other than anyone else. However, Evert pointed out the mistake in Djokovic’s claims as she tweeted, “Oops,” indicating that Djokovic and Nadal hadn’t played the most matches against each other.

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Evert got slammed by tennis fans for pointing out this error. Subsequently, Navratilova came to her rescue, saying, “He literally said tennis.” Despite their intriguing rivalry, Navratilova and Evert were best of friends on and off the court.