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Former World No. 1 Martina Navratilova has received a lot of flak from tennis fans for questioning Maria Sharapova's inclusion in a poll about the best women's tennis player of all time.
A post on X (formerly Twitter) asked for fans to vote for the best female player in history by listing four players — Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Maria Sharapova, and Navratilova. In response, Navratilova expressed her displeasure with Sharapova's inclusion and called the pole a "joke."
"What a joke- I mean Maria? Really? Don’t even bother voting," the 66-year-old wrote.
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Fans did not take kindly to Navratilova's statement, with one claiming that Sharapova would "smoke" her on her worst day.
"Maria would smoke you on her worst day anytime. Be happy you played tennis in slow motion era. You wouldn't last a set with these new girls now," the fan said.
Another fan stated that Navratilova should not compare herself with Sharapova since the latter competed in an era when "actual athletes" played tennis.
"You played tennis with a wooden racket hun and you want to talk down on someone from a whole different era? Shame on you for comparing yourself to someone who played in a time where we had actual athletes and not housewives who played for fun. GROW UP or not cuz ur v old," another fan's post read.
One user stated that Navratilova was just being "bitter."
"You're older than the iphone, twitter and facebook combined and yet you're worried about this ? You are NOTHING compared to Maria Sharapova, you need a reality check. Being THAT bitter at your old age... Just go to bed grandma," said one user.
Here are some more fan reactions to Navratilova questioning Sharapova's inclusion in the poll:
Martina Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles in her career while Maria Sharapova won five
Martina Navratilova and Maria Sharapova both accomplished a lot in their respective tennis careers. The former won 18 Grand Slam singles titles while the latter won five.
Navratilova's maiden Major triumph came at Wimbledon in 1978, when she beat Chris Evert 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the final. She went on to win the grasscourt Major on nine occasions, which is more than any other player in history. She also won the US Open four times, the Australian Open thrice, and the French Open twice.
On the other hand, Sharapova's maiden Grand Slam singles triumph came at the 2004 Wimbledon Championships, when she beat Serena Williams in the final. The Russian went on to win each of the four Majors, claiming the French Open in 2012 and 2014, the US Open in 2006, and the Australian Open in 2008.
