Navratilova and Becker embody what Laureus Sport for good stands for through the love of all sports

When it comes to tennis experience and opinions on the game, they don’t come with much more gravitas than those of Martina Navratilova and Boris Becker.

The two former world No 1s in women’s and men’s tennis – in Navratilova’s case for an astonishing 331 weeks – are not only lovers of tennis, but of all sports.

Both hold strong opinions on the game, but both also place their love of sport at the centre of their lives. As Laureus Academy members, they are at the sharp tip of working to improve the lives of children around the world through sport.

Both are original members of the Laureus Academy when the concept was conceived 25 years ago.

“When I was asked to be part of the academy at the beginning, I was like, what a brilliant idea,” Navratilova’ said. “This was very original including all the sports, every sport has their own thing.

“But this is all the sports put together with the greatest athletes that ever played so many different sports. So, I was very proud of being part of it because, you know, you don't get there because you look nice or you know somebody. You earn your way here.”

Becker admitted to being like a fan when he attended his first Laureus Awards.

“All my heroes were there, like Michael Jordan, Michael Johnson, and so many other real superstars in the sports and we're combining for a common cause called Laureus. It was mind-blowing,” Becker recalled.

“And our chairman at the time, if you remember, was Mr Nelson Mandela. I was really blown away by these incredible personalities and 25 years later, it has gone by in a flash.

“We're touching the lives of over six million kids in 40 countries and we raised a lot of money for it as well by just using sports as tools for social change.

"That's really what it’s about because in both of our hearts there's still the child, the child loving tennis and what a difference it made in our lives. We haven't forgotten where we're from. It's impressive what you can achieve through the sport in changing the lives of millions of children all over the world.”

LOVE OF ALL SPORT

While the pair held court (excuse the pun) with the media for 45 minutes on the eve of the 2024 Laureus World Sport Awards in the grand atrium of the Palacio de Cibeles, Madrid’s spectacular city hall, their conversations were laced with admiration for sport and sports people. And for equality in sport.

Becker was quizzed on his love of football giants Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, who will clash in the Champions League semifinals in a few weeks. “I guess my German heart is popping louder than my, my Spanish heart in that case,” Becker said with honesty.

Navratilova spoke of her love of the Olympics and being with so many talented sports people in one venue. “I did not get a medal (at the Olympics) but what really hit me was seeing all the different athletes from different sports and looking at the different body types and guessing which sport they're doing.

“Obviously people that are five foot four, don't aspire to be a basketball player and same thing if you're six foot five, you can't be a gymnast. In tennis we have some variety.

“I loved seeing the other athletes and it was great to be a part of it.”

FIGHT FOR EQUALITY

But they are also strong advocates for gender equality and for sport being a positive vehicle for change. And on that front tennis has certainly taken a leadership role in promoting gender equality.

“I want to say tennis is really an equal sport we have men and women in the slams playing pretty much at the same time and they get the same prize money,” Becker said.

“We have really stepped forward in today's society of treating women's and men's tennis equally. And so the stardom of the Iga Swiatek of today or the Martina Navratilova’s back in the day is equally big. And I can only applaud tennis for that.

“It is true that tennis is setting the example for all the rest of the sports in terms of gender equality.”

“Tennis is one of the fine examples where there's gender equality, the grand slams are male and female, the prize money is the same, the coverage from the court is the same, the women's finals on Saturday alone, the men's finals on Sunday.

“I think some of the other sports should take an example of tennis.

Another reason why so many tennis players are nominated (for Laureus) awards) is because we see that. And that's a very important message.”

Navratilova commended tennis but feels that the fight for gender equality across all sports, still has some way to go.

“We've been fighting for that (equality). We have it in the majors, because both men and women are playing and contributing equally,” Navratilova said.

“Outside of that, in tournaments, it's no more difficult for women to get the sponsorship that the men get. It's still a bit of a battle. Of course, in some countries women can't even play sports, so it's cultural and different countries have different roles.

“But overall, yeah, one day we will have total equality, but we're not quite there yet.”