{"id":120137,"date":"2025-09-07T05:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T05:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/120137\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T05:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T05:18:08","slug":"martina-navratilova-calls-out-stupid-tennis-rule-that-needs-changing-after-getting-fed-up-in-the-womens-us-open-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/120137\/","title":{"rendered":"Martina Navratilova calls out ‘stupid’ tennis rule that needs changing after getting ‘fed up’ in the women’s US Open final"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aryna Sabalenka has successfully defended her US Open title after defeating Amanda Anisimova in the women\u2019s singles final.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka is now a four-time Grand Slam champion, with two of those victories having arrived on the hard courts of the US Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The WTA<\/a> number one defeated American Jessica Pegula in last year\u2019s final, and has now done the same to her compatriot Anisimova.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka clinched the title thanks to a 6-3, 7-6(7-3) success at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and is the first woman to defend her title since Serena Williams in 2024.<\/p>\n

Martina Navratilova backed Iga Swiatek to win the US Open<\/a>, but her favourite fell to Anisimova in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

\"AmandaPhoto by Elsa\/Getty ImagesMartina Navratilova calls out \u2018stupid\u2019 rule in US Open women\u2019s final<\/p>\n

The tennis legend was on commentary duties for Anisimova\u2019s final with Sabalenka, and called for a rule change after the Belarusian challenged a call early in the first set thinking it was a let when it was indeed uncalled by the umpire.<\/p>\n

Navratilova<\/a> said on Sky Sports Tennis<\/a>: \u201cThat\u2019s why we should just play it as a live ball. It\u2019s such a stupid rule. I am really fed up with it.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Tearful Amanda Anisimova sends classy message to Aryna Sabalenka after US Open final, \u2018you are so incredible\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI have been talking about it for decades, it feels like! Why? Somebody made that rule 150 years ago and we have not changed it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ArynaPhoto by Al Bello\/Getty ImagesLaura Robson suggests why key tennis rule hasn\u2019t been changed during US Open final<\/p>\n

Former British number one Laura Robson also watched the situation unfold, and was on hand to offer insight into the ruling.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cBasically the technology is so unreliable that it\u2019s the same kind of numbers being called when it\u2019s just the chair umpire, so there was really no difference when they looked at the data amongst all the Slams whether it had the net machine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHalf the time it wasn\u2019t even working and most of the time it was the chair umpire calling it anyway. There is just not a reliable form of technology for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether or not the rule will be looked at in more detail in the near future remains to be seen, with the incident ultimately not having an impact on the final outcome.<\/p>\n

It was another intriguing battle between Sabalenka and Anisimova, who also met at the 2025 French Open and Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

ResultYearTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreWin2023Australian OpenHardElena Rybakina4\u20136, 6\u20133, 6\u20134Loss2023US OpenHardCoco Gauff6\u20132, 3\u20136, 2\u20136Win2024Australian OpenHardZheng Qinwen6\u20133, 6\u20132Win2024US OpenHardJessica Pegula7\u20135, 7\u20135Loss2025Australian OpenHardMadison Keys3\u20136, 6\u20132, 5\u20137Loss2025French OpenClayCoco Gauff7\u20136(7\u20135), 2\u20136, 4\u20136Win2025US OpenHardAmanda Anisimova6\u20133, 7\u20136(7\u20133)Aryna Sabalenka Grand Slam finals<\/p>\n

The Belarusian won their round of 16 clash in Paris, with the American then exacting her revenge in their London semifinal.<\/p>\n

The current bragging rights have now returned to Sabalenka after their clash in New York, although Anisimova still impressively holds a 6-4 win-loss record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka has successfully defended her US Open title after defeating Amanda Anisimova in the women\u2019s singles final.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[9398,101,118,56,54,55,6545,6546],"class_list":{"0":"post-120137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-martina-navratilova","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom","14":"tag-us-open","15":"tag-wta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}