When Words Collide, Sentences Form

No, Tell Me She Didn't...

Martina Navratilova is supposedly upset over the lack of fuss over her retirement at the US Open this weekend at the newly renamed Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (once again, really - was THAT renaming necessary??) As well as the fact that so many people have given so much emotion and attention to Andre Agassi's retirement - but not to her's. My thought on this is - seriously??

First of all, Martina...you actually retired more than a decade ago. From singles. The attention-grabbing part of tennis. Then you returned to play doubles until you were putting the used match balls on the legs of your walker. (Yes, I stole that from a great new Lexus ad.) In regards to that...I would say that 98.73% of the people that know Andre Agassi retired at the US Open (this includes rabid tennis fans, semi-serious fans, general sports fans and just people that have purchased an Canon Rebel camera) have absolutely no idea that you were even playing doubles again.

So she expects the sports world to pay as much attention to her retirement from only receiving attention for playing doubles only at the 4 major tournaments...as they are to a man who has defined American participation in the sport for the last 16 years.

I used to have a lot of respect and admiration for Navratilova and everything she had done...not just for the sport of tennis but for the various populations she represents (women, defectors from oppressive regimes, the GLBT community, etc.). But last week she dropped significantly on my respect scale.

posted by Steph @ 8:22 PM