“There is just amazing freedom,” Martina Navratilova hands retirement advice to Roger Federer and Serena Williams praising them for their glorious career
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Roger Federer and Serena Williams
Czech–American and widely considered to be one of the greatest ever, Martina Navratilova feels that there’s going to be such a hole, after Roger Federer and Serena Williams’s retirement in this year. While Federer played his last match at the Laver Cup in London in September, which he said was his final event on the pro tour, Serena said she planned to ‘evolve away’ from tennis at her last match in the US Open.
While handing post-retirement advice, Navratilova said that Federer and Williams should not feel guilty about saying no. “They can do whatever they want,” she wrote in Wall Street Journal. Navratilova thinks that both the stars are leaving such a great legacy behind them that will be almost impossible for the coming generation to replace.
The 18-time major singles champion Navratilova believes that the two have done their share for the world, and whatever they do now would be a massive bonus for them, and for the world, too. With the presence of social media now, Navratilova thinks, it would be easier for the two to reach out to the world in whatever they chose to do next.
Navratilova thinks that without the pressure of next tournaments, practice sessions, and meals, they can feel free to explore the things they are passionate about, and even discover new ones, that feel like natural fits to them, rather than causes that are popular and they can hire the best people to help them achieve whatever vision they have.
On future prospects the two greats, Navratilova wrote, “The world is their oyster, They can do whatever they want. There’s just amazing freedom in that and they should not be ashamed of that.”. “Roger could be an ambassador, or maybe president. And it might not be Switzerland, either!”, she further said in praise of Federer.
Martina Navratilova on careers of Roger Federer and Serena Williams, future of tennis
Looking back at the glorious career of Serena Williams, Navratilova thinks she is retiring on her own terms. “In fact, when Serena got pregnant a few years ago, I thought she was done. But then she came back. She wasn’t done! She’s retiring on her own terms,” she wrote. About Federer, she feels that the Swiss would have continued to play if his body had allowed him to do so.
On the future of tennis, Navratilova feels that the hole, after losing Roger and Serena in the same year will be hard to fill. Still, she has faith in the coming generation of players. “Pretty soon we’ll fall in love with the new players—and there are some great personalities out there. Hopefully this new generation will be even better, because things come in cycles. But also, the previous generation plants seeds for the next one“, she wrote.
Navratilova also touched upon the topic of Covid-19 and the impacts it had on the careers of Federer and Williams. She thinks that the players like Federer and Williams, nearing the end of their careers had to go through a lot due to restrictions imposed.
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