Navratilova interview

Tennis legend opens up on super-coaches, Murray and sexism in the game

If you have been on the road all your life, you itch for it after a while

Her own arrangement with Agnieszka Radwanska did not work out, but Martina Navratilova believes the idea of tennis “legends” coaching top players is here to stay. “You will see that more and more,” said the former world No 1. “Players are saying: ‘I don’t have to have a coach who has only played a little bit. Instead I can have somebodywho won something’.”

Only Margaret Court, with 62 Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, won more trophies at the highest level than Navratilova, whose tally of 59 included nine singles triumphs at Wimbledon.

As the trend for appointing “super-coaches” gathered momentum lastyear, Radwanska’s recruitment of Navratilova in December generated huge interest, but they parted company last month. The Pole has not reached a final since last August. Navratilova, who lives in Miami, had underestimated the amount of time she needed to work with the world No 9, who lives in Poland.

The break-up still seems to be a sensitive issue for Navratilova, who arrived in Britain last week ahead of her work as a commentator for BT Sport at the tournaments in Madrid and Rome. Although she was happy to answer questions on a wide variety of subjects when she visited the Wimbledon Club, just over the road from the scene of her greatest triumphs at the All England Club, she did not want to talk about Radwanska.

Navratilova believes, nevertheless, that the sport’s former greats will have an increasing influence on the modern game. In recent times Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl, Goran Ivanisevic and Michael Chang have been key figures in the respective careers of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori. Murray went one step further last summer by replacing Lendl with Amélie Mauresmo, the first woman other than a family member to coach a male Grand Slam singles champion.

In the women’s game Lindsay Davenport is combining motherhood – she has four young children – with coaching Madison Keys and only last month Arantxa Sanchez Vicario joined Caroline Wozniacki’s entourage.

Navratilova believes the wealth of today’s players has been a catalyst. “The players today earn so much more that they can afford to pay the