"How nasty you were to Venus & Serena Williams","Did you take it easy on Chris Evert?" - Fans slam Martina Navratilova after comments on Caitlin Clark

Martina Navratilova commented about Caitlin Clark facing a tough time in the WNBA recently but faced backlash from fans claiming she was not kind to Serena and Venus Williams or Chris Evert. Some fans were ruthless in their assessment of Navratilova's behavior toward her peers.

The Chicago Sky took on the Indiana Fever on Friday, May 31. During the match, the Sky's Chennedy Carter fouled on the Fever's Clark aggressively as Angel Reese cheered Carter on.

Navratilova was displeased by Carter's and Reese's actions. The former tennis player was also displeased with how WNBA players were treating the young but succesful Clark. She wrote on her X account:

"The players in the WNBA need to realize that Caitl(i)n Clark is helping all of them, now and in the long run. Caitl(i)n is the tide that will raise all boats!"

However, the former World No. 1's comments were not taken lightly by fans. They accused her of having double standards while making these comments as they resurfaced her own comments about the Williams sisters.

"Gee kinda like when you always supported Serena & Venus when they were the biggest stars in Tennis right? Oh wait you didn’t," one fan wrote.

"The way you treated Serena and Venus, you gotta sit this one out, Martina," another replied.

"You forget how nasty you were to Venus and Serena?" one fan asked.

"Remember when Venus and Serena raised all boats and got women tennis players equal pay and you were a certified hater?" another asked.

In an interview in 2001, Navratilova did not have kind words for the Williams sisters. She said the sisters lacked humility:

“People have been afraid to criticize them because they don’t want to be called racist. They have made excuses and not given any credit to their opponents. They’re afraid to show any kind of humility."

Some fans mentioned her hostility toward Chris Evert during the peak of their rivalry.

"I'm old enough to remember how the overwhelming attention on Chris Evert at your expense always bothered you, even if you've forgotten," one fan wrote.

"Did you take it easy on Chris Evert once when she was the media darling?! Because if you did, I never saw it," another fan asked.

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Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert's relationship took a turn for the good over time

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert did not have the best of relationships during their gloried rivalry in the 1970s and 1980s.

In an interview with Associated Press, Evert said:

"In the beginning, I was beating her, I was practicing with her, we were playing doubles together. Then she started beating me, and I broke up the doubles, because I felt like I was getting too close.

We went our own ways. When she was coached by Nancy Lieberman, and Nancy was teaching her to hate her opponent, we weren't getting along then. It really wasn't until the end of our careers, maybe the last five years, that we got along well."

The pair faced each other 80 times over the course of their careers and Martina Navratilova led the head-to-head record 43-37. The pair have each won 18 Grand Slam singles titles.