Martina Navratilova: Wants a chance to play Serena Williams

Tennis great Martina Navratilova would love to turn back the hands of time and face now #1 Serena Williams

How would Martina Navratilova do in today’s era of power racquets, power everything tennis? Count Martina herself as someone who would like to find out. Navaratilova speaking to Laureus Sport for Good Foundation USA seemed like she wished she had a time machine to make a match-up with today’s best Serena Williams possible:

"“I would love the opportunity to play Serena. She’s got a big power game, huge serve, but she doesn’t like to play people that are very fast, and I was pretty quick in my day. I think it would be a pretty great match. Different surfaces, people have different strengths and weaknesses but I think that would be a great match‑up. I would love the opportunity to play her.”"

Not surprisingly, Martina added that she would not change her style in this time travel match-up, but simply attack Serena like she attacked Chris Evert or anyone else in her day:

"“I would play my game, which is come to the net, most of all, try to mix it up with uneven rhythm, keep the ball low, hit a lot of slices and run her on the diagonal as much as possible. The biggest thing is getting into the point. Once you are in the point, you have a good chance, but she’s such a big first striker of the ball, so you need to neutralize that. Obviously try to get the first serve in, attack the second as possible, and get her on the run and keep her out of rhythm. Don’t give her time to hit the ball.”"

Time sports travel should be possible so tennis fans could see this match. My money is on Martina, but Serena’s power and serve would cause her trouble. Martina also weighed in on the men’s game and whether Roger Federer was the “greatest of all-time.”

"“It’s hard to argue with that but it’s hard to also say that Rod Laver wasn’t the greatest of all time or Pete Sampras was the greatest of all times. When you compare generations, different eras, different equipment, different situations, it’s really hard to say. I think Roger would be happy just to be in that same group. I doubt very much that Roger would put himself above Rod Laver.”"

Martina was also asked if the serve an volley game that she played was possible to play effectively today. Again, somewhat surprisingly, she sees a movement coming where the serve and volley style returns:

"“Everybody can hit the ball well from the baseline, but it’s people who can hit the whole court with the shots as well as use the whole court positionally that will be excelling in the future, and you are already seeing it now, the guys are complete players, and the women are getting that way more and more, using a lot more variety with shot‑making.”"

For the entire Martina Navratilova interview click here. The Laureus Sports Awards will be announced April 15th in Shanghai, China.

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