Former world number one Martina Navratilova got into a heated argument with tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg about who should be eligible to use the women’s locker room. The 67-year-old has been openly against the use of the women’s locker room by transgender athletes, calling them ‘biological male’.
Navratilova, who is often regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of women’s tennis having won as many as 18 Grand Slam titles, got into a heated argument with tennis journalist Rothenberg on the social media platform X — previously known as Twitter — where he not only went on to call him ‘clueless’ but also asked him to ‘stay out’.
"Hard to overstate what a bummer it is to see this continued turn from an icon of both women's tennis and LGBT history. And I think this petty bullying meaningfully undercut Navratilova's attempt at claiming moral high ground when it came to women's tennis going to Saudi Arabia,” he wrote.
"People assume I'm talking about sports debates when I talk about Martina. I'm not. Martina famously doesn’t “stick to sports,” and that’s hugely true of her constant comments about trans issues, where she frequently insults non-athlete trans folks sports (like Dylan Mulvaney)."
Hard to overstate what a bummer it is to see this continued turn from an icon of both women's tennis and LGBT history. And I think this petty bullying meaningfully undercut Navratilova's attempt at claiming moral high ground when it came to women's tennis going to Saudi Arabia.
Perfection.
"Oh Ben- just shows how utterly clueless you are when it comes to this… We just loooove when men tell what we should do or what we should think. Just sit this one out," the 18-time Grand Slam champion wrote. It's about women’s sex based spaces- and you are just another male who thinks that’s ok. You might be ok with naked females in the men’s locker room but we are not ok with naked males in women’s locker rooms.”
It’s about women’s sex based spaces- and you are just another male who thinks that’s ok. You might be ok with naked females in the men’s locker room but we are NOT ok with naked males in women’s locker rooms.
