“For Federer and Serena, the stoppage of tennis is wasted time”

The American Martina Navratilova, winner of 59 Grand Slam titles, assured that the cancellation of Wimbledon “is a lost opportunity” for the players., especially veterans like Roger Federer or Serena Williams, and that if she were in her situation she would “go crazy for not being able to play.”

“Only war has prevented major tournaments from taking place, now we have this pandemic and for players like Roger Federer and, of course, Serena Williams, it is time wasted. Particularly for Serena, as Wimbledon is her best chance to beat Margaret Court's record. She is stuck at 23 and is trying to get to 24, maybe 25. It is a missed opportunity as you get older. If I was in that position I would go crazy for not being able to play, “she said in an interview with Laureus.com.

Member of the Laureus Academy, Navratilova is confined to her Florida home and expressed frustration at not being able to attend Wimbledon for the first time since 1973, a tournament with which she has always had “an affair” and which for her “transcends tennis and transcends sports”.

“Everyone is in the same boat, but for veteran players like Roger and even Rafa Nadal and, in particular, Serena Williams, it is more difficult, No doubt. I feel sorry for them, because this is an enemy that cannot be rehabilitated, cannot be fought, it is only hoped that it will disappear and we can play next year, “he said.

For Navratilova, the current situation also allows us to realize “what sport means, a luxury, and the great luck of playing” to earn a living. “But everyone misses it, it is still a big part of the fabric of our lives,” he said.

As a member of the Laureus Academy, which in the last 20 years has helped almost 6 million children and youth with more than 200 programs and a collection of more than 150 millionNavratilova expressed concern about the influence of the situation on programs that help “compete, play, socialize and even get a safe education in a safe space that they cannot, for whatever reason, achieve with their family or their neighborhood or their country “

Proud to have intervened in initiatives like one in a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi, “where you cannot imagine the conditions”, Navratilova stressed that “there are 10,000 children who are playing soccer, taking care of their education, their health, their well-being, receiving advice on HIV-AIDS “, to which now” the coronavirus is added, and social distancing in places where people are concentrated in 10 or 20 square meters, this is difficult “

“This pandemic that is hitting Europe, that is hitting America, has not really entered Africa and Asia, which are behind the curve and now, how are they going to deal with that? How will we help them? Perhaps Laureus can find a way to get ahead of the curve because that wave is coming and all these projects will be affected in a much bigger way, “he predicted.

Despite admitting that “the suffering is overwhelming” in this pandemic, which has more reflected “the abyss between people” Due to the socioeconomic level, Navratilova hoped “to find a way to get out of this without many people suffering.”

“My heart goes out to all the people who are affected in such a hard way. To all the children and adults who have been affected by this in the Laureus projects, I say: Hang in there, things will improve, we will get out of this, “he wished.