"For women it was either-or, now Serena proved you can have both" - Navratilova on Serena Williams

Martina Navratilova spoke about how Serena Williams paved the way for mother athletes in sports after her achievements.

Navratilova has always been complimentary of Serena Williams and everything she did both on the court and off the court and she commended what Williams did for mother athletes. Serena came back from giving birth and won events again which is an inspiring thing according to Navratilova:

"For women it was either-or, but now Serena proved you can have both. There are plenty of other mothers on the tour who have done really well. The biggest reason we didn’t see it – there are a couple – the care wasn’t there, the money wasn’t there, and also women just chose to have babies and then they didn’t come back.

But now I think Serena kind of paved the way for motherhood and to still be an athlete. I think you will see more and more women playing well into their 30s, maybe into their 40s.”

She added:

"With the money that’s in tennis, people can take better care of themselves. Most of all, with the knowledge that we have about how to take care of our bodies much better – that will prolong players’ careers. Maybe (players will) not play as much every year but play longer and better quality as well. The care is there, the mental health, all of that is being addressed now much better than it was in my day.”