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)."
"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.”
