"Tiring for women" - Martina Navratilova reacts with sadness as her 'oldest' Grand Slam winner record gets ignored for retiring Rohan Bopanna

Martina Navratilova registered her sadness at the way women are treated in the sports world compared to men, after one of her most prominent Grand Slam records was ignored in favor of Rohan Bopanna.

Indian tennis legend Bopanna announced his retirement a few days back, stating that he will bring an end to his tennis career at the age of 45. A former World No. 1 and a two-time doubles Grand Slam champion, he won his first men's doubles Major at the 2024 Australian Open, when he was 44 years old.

Taking to social media to celebrate him on the occasion of his retirement, Tennis TV shared a graphic about Bopanna, also adding a couple of his achievements. One of those mentioned was that he was oldest Grand Slam winner, without the qualifer added that it was only among men.

"Oldest Grand Slam champion at 44. Oldest World No. 1 in doubles. Oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion. A true legend signs off," the caption read.

One fan immediately pointed out that it was disrespectful to ignore Martina Navratilova when saying that, as the American won the 2006 US Open mixed doubles with Bob Bryan. Navratilova was 49 at the time, and it marked her 59th and final Grand Slam title -- coming 32 years after she won her first Slam at the 1974 French Open in mixed doubles.

Navratilova replied to the tweet, stating that it was indeed tiring for women to be left out of the history books.

"It does get tiring for women…" Navratilova wrote. "Women don’t count…. Oh well…." she also said to share her disappointment.

Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam titles in singles, 31 in women's doubles and 10 in mixed doubles before retiring from tennis.

Martina Navratilova completed the Career Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles

Martina Navratilova and Boris Becker Press Conference - Laureus World Sports Awards Madrid 2024 - Source: Getty

Martina Navratilova's dominance in both singles and doubles can be highlighted by one achievement -- the fact that she completed the Career Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. That means that she won all four Majors at least one time each in every category.

Only two other players in the history of the sport have done that till date -- Margaret Court and Doris Hart. She also won the Billie Jean King Cup (then called the Fed Cup) four times in her career.

Edited by Shyam Kamal