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Narrow miss for Navratilova in bid for oldest US Open winner
New York, Sept 08: Martina Navratilova, who failed in her bid for US Open history here, has called upon Serena and Venus Williams to play more events and tagged US Open winner Justine Henin-Hardenne their greatest threat.
New York, Sept 08: Martina Navratilova, who failed in her bid for US Open history here, has called upon Serena and Venus Williams to play more events and tagged US Open winner Justine Henin-Hardenne their greatest threat.
Spain's Virginia Ruano-Pascual and Argentina's Paola Suarez beat Navratilova and Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 6-3 yesterday to win the grand slam crown and deny the 46-year-old American legend her 59th slam title.
"We're both disappointed we didn't play better," Navratilova said. "We could have played better. We should have played better. I felt like a kid. 'Hey I'm in a grand slam final'. Then I played like a little kid.
"They made us look bad but we also let them."
Navratilova, 46, would have been the oldest female US Open winner, breaking the age mark of Margaret Osborne Dupont, who was 42 when she won the 1960 mixed doubles crown.
After her first US Open women's doubles final since 1990, Navratilova urged the Williams sisters, who played little more than minimal WTA schedules even before recent injuries kept them out of the open, to do more to boost the game.
"We have the product. How you market it, that's another story," Navratilova said. "You have to somehow get them out there. Another key is for Serena and Venus Williams to play more. You have got to support the tour."
Bureau Report
Spain's Virginia Ruano-Pascual and Argentina's Paola Suarez beat Navratilova and Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 6-3 yesterday to win the grand slam crown and deny the 46-year-old American legend her 59th slam title.
"We're both disappointed we didn't play better," Navratilova said. "We could have played better. We should have played better. I felt like a kid. 'Hey I'm in a grand slam final'. Then I played like a little kid.
"They made us look bad but we also let them."
Navratilova, 46, would have been the oldest female US Open winner, breaking the age mark of Margaret Osborne Dupont, who was 42 when she won the 1960 mixed doubles crown.
After her first US Open women's doubles final since 1990, Navratilova urged the Williams sisters, who played little more than minimal WTA schedules even before recent injuries kept them out of the open, to do more to boost the game.
"We have the product. How you market it, that's another story," Navratilova said. "You have to somehow get them out there. Another key is for Serena and Venus Williams to play more. You have got to support the tour."
Bureau Report