'It’s not a one': Martina Navratilova hails depth in women's tennis after ninth different Wimbledon champion

Legendary Martina Navratilova has shared an interesting perspective about women’s tennis after a new Wimbledon champion was crowned on Saturday. Iga Swiatek becomes the first Polish player to lift the Wimbledon singles title after beating America’s Amanda Anisimova in straight sets with a score of 6-0, 6-0.

While doing so, Swiatek achieved numerous milestones. She became the first player in more than 100 years to lift a women’s singles title at Wimbledon without losing a single game. Swiatek also became only the third player in the history of women’s tennis in the Open era to win her first six finals at Grand Slams.

The result meant that for the ninth consecutive year, there was a different champion in the Wimbledon women’s singles category. Former world number one Navratilova spoke to the BBC ahead of the final, where she highlighted that a new champion every year shows how many good players there are currently playing in women’s tennis, all of whom are capable of winning a major title.

“I think it shows how many more good players there are and when they get hot, they can even win here,” said Navratilova. “Some we would not have expected, but most of them are multi-slam winners. So it’s not a one-off. It’s not an accident, but still, the fact that now we have a new one. In the round of 16, nobody’s even into the finals here. So that’s never happened since I’ve been playing. So we have more parity, but we also have more champions because they can rise to the occasion.”

Talking after the match, Swiatek stated that she never dreamt of lifting the Wimbledon title. “Honestly, I didn’t even dream because for me it was just way too far,” said Swiatek. “I feel like I’m already an experienced player after winning the slams before but I never really expected this one. I want to thank my team because they believed in me more than I did.”