"Took women's tennis to a different level": Martina Navratilova doesn't get enough credit for role in women's tennis says journalist
WTA
As women's tennis continues to rise in popularity, tennis journalist Chris Bowers has attributed some of it's rapid growth to the work done by WTA legend Martina Navratilova.
Regarded as one of the best female tennis players to ever step on a court, Navratilova has won a total of 59 Grand Slam titles, 18 singles, 31 women's doubles titles, and 10 mixed doubles titles. Furthermore, she has worked tirelessly as an advocate for equality in women's tennis, and is never shy to voice her opinion on social matters.
Navratilova's professionalism took women's tennis to newer heights
In a recent appearance on the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast, Bowers praised Navratilova for improving the perception of women's tennis in the 1980's. The former World No.1 set a shining example, as other athletes began to emulate her gym routine and dedication to a healthier diet.
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"i think we haven't talked much about Martina Navratilova and what she did in the 80s," said Bowers. "Her focus on diet. Her focus on gym work, that took women's tennis to a different level, to the point where, at her peak in the mid-80s, there were lots of tennis fans who were saying, 'Oh, she's spoiled the game. She's made it very unfeminine.' Now you look at videos; now you go to YouTube and look at Navratilova, that to me is beautiful tennis.
"It's wonderful. She just happened to lift the professionalism of women's tennis to a new level, to a level that everybody now takes for granted. So I think we should give her acknowledgement for what she did by taking the sport somewhere that it hadn't been before and is now taken for granted."
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Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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