Martina Navratilova defends her father from troll's 'male role model' jibe after Donald Trump's ultimatum to Maine governor

Martina Navratilova recently got into a heated exchange with a troll after the latter questioned the former over the role models in her life. The exchange came on the back of Donald Trump issuing an ultimatum to Janet Mills, the Governor of Maine, following her defiance against the US President over a ban on transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.

On Friday, February 21, Donald Trump addressed governors of all US states at The White House. During the address, Trump asked Mills if she would comply with the transgender athlete ban. To this, the Maine Governor stated that she would only comply with state and federal law. Here, Trump threatened to cut federal funding for Maine if there is non-compliance from her end.

Mills suggested that she would take legal action against Trump in such a scenario. The President hit back, suggesting that Mills' stance may come at a cost to her political ambitions. Upon taking notice of Trump's subtle threat to the Maine Governor, former WTA No. 1 and 18-time Major winner Martina Navratilova called the US President a "bully" on X (formerly Twitter).

"He is such a godd**n bully!" Navratilova wrote.

Several users on X later questioned Navratilova, citing her own repeated statements calling for the ban of transgender athletes in women's sports. One user mocked the legendary Czech-American, suggesting that she didn't grow up seeing "good male role models". According to the user, this was the reason behind Navratilova taking objection to Trump's methods.

"Martina, like all feminists, hates strong men because she didn't have good male role models. Even her coach is a man in a dress, who she refers to as a woman," the troll wrote, referring to Martina Navratilova's ex-coach Renee Richards.

A furious Navratilova lashed out at the troll, writing:

"My father was an amazing man- you can now f**k off. You cannot be more wrong about who I hate - but your assumptions are top notch. Moron…"

In the same thread of posts, Navratilova also likened Trump to one of human history's most controversial figures.

Martina Navratilova drew Adolf Hitler parallel to Donald Trump over US President's ways since returning to power

Martina Navratilova (Source: Getty)

Donald Trump's second term as US President has only just started, but he has already made several controversial political moves, such as cutting USAID funding. Martina Navratilova, one of Trump's fiercest critics in tennis, in an exchange with an X user, suggested that everything that the US President is doing apart from his stance on transgender athletes can be compared to the activities of Adolf Hitler.

"Women’s sex-based spaces—absolutely. The rest is straight out of Hitler’s blueprint...," Navratilova wrote.

Navratilova herself has time and again stated that transgender athletes have no place in women's sports. This particular stance has also sparked outrage towards the Czech-American from certain sections of the LGBTQ+ community.