Martina Navratilova wants radical change in tennis that would make the game ‘more difficult’

Martina Navratilova dominated tennis in a different era, but she’s kept a firm eye on the current events on the modern game.

The multi-time Grand Slam champion continues to work as a pundit and she is currently at Wimbledon as part of the BBC’s coverage of the event.

Navratilova is not afraid to speak her mind as a pundit, and she often calls out several WTA Tour stars for their performances at the top of the game.

Navratilova questioned Swiatek’s performances at Wimbledon and now she has called for a major change to the way the sport has played.

In an interview with The Tennis Channel, the former Wimbledon champion has urged the modern game to change the size of racket heads in an order to make tennis more versatile.

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“If I was a tennis star [now], I would mandate smaller racket heads,” she said.

“So there would be more emphasis on technique and it would make it a little more difficult to hit unbelievable passing shots and you can still hit a volley, but you cannot do just this off balance just hit it as hard as you can. Technique would be more more of a premium.”

Navratilova believes the time for change in tennis is right after speaking to golf champion Rory McIlroy while at this year’s Wimbledon.

“In fact, I talked to Rory McIlroy in my first Royal Box visit here and he said, ‘What would you do?’ He said he would make the heads a little bit smaller off of [golf] clubs because they’re so massive now. The sweet spot is so much bigger than it used to be, and so it is in tennis.

“So, I’ll make the sweet spot a little bit smaller to to put more premium on precision, taking pace off the ball, and then you will see more serve and volley, or at least people coming to the net more.”

Navratilova won several Wimbledon titles by serving and volleying, but it has died out in the last few decades due to the power and precision of the modern game.

The last players to use serve and volley at Wimbledon were the likes of Tim Henman, Pete Sampras, and even Roger Federer in the early 2000s, but it is not a technique that is used in the modern game.

Navratilova is not the first person in tennis to call for smaller rackets, as Toni Nadal has often tried to implement the change in the sport.

In an interview earlier this year, the legendary Spanish coach said: “A measure I’d propose to change tennis would be to play with a smaller racket.

“Today, most matches boil down to hitting as hard as possible, with no real tactic to counter it. Tennis leaders should do something to change the game. Sometimes it’s just unappealing.”

The change shows no signs of entering tennis as yet, but the debate continued to rumble on about smaller rackets.