Tennis icon Martina Navratilova, known for her fierce advocacy for women’s sports, recently found herself in a heated exchange with a woke tennis reporter, Ben Rothenberg. Rothenberg, who took issue with Navratilova’s stance on transgender athletes in women’s sports, accused her of spreading “transphobic vitriol.” Navratilova, however, did not back down and shut him down effectively.

Navratilova has been vocal about protecting the integrity of women’s sports. On November 21st, she took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice her concerns about transgender athletes competing against women. She stated unequivocally, “Women’s sports is not the place for mediocre male athletes who compete as women. Period.” In another post, she responded to a transgender cyclist winning a race with, “What a joke.”

Despite identifying as a leftist, Navratilova remains unwavering in her defense of women’s sports. She condemned the vandals who attacked a “Take Back Title IX” bus, calling them “cowards and anarchists who don’t give a shit about women.” She asserted, “I am a leftist. I would call the people who did this cowards and anarchists who don’t give a shit about women.”

Ben Rothenberg, a tennis reporter and host of the @NCR_Tennis podcast, then accused Navratilova of turning her stance into a crusade. He tweeted, “Martina Navratilova turning this anti-trans crusade into her life’s obsession in recent years remains dispiriting!” He went on to accuse her of spreading “transphobic vitriol” and being “nasty and cruel and dehumanizing.”

Navratilova’s response was swift and cutting. She replied, “Yet another man telling women what they should care about. And who are you exactly? Oh yeah, the reporter who tells tennis players its off the record and then prints what they said anyway. Good to know you care about women’s sports and women’s sex based spaces. I care.”

Rothenberg tried to defend his position, saying, “I’ve never done that. But I care also, about someone who was a beacon of freedom and inclusion in the sport I’ve covered sadly choosing to erode the platform she built with cyberbullying campaigns aimed at obscure, low-level amateur athletes. I wish you were better than that.”

In another post, Rothenberg criticized those who, according to him, have made opposing transgender participation in women’s sports their “entire personality.” He wrote, “(Been wild to see when these folks have swarmed my mentions how for so many of them, this issue has become their entire personality on this website. Fighting this trans boogeyman by trawling super obscure amateur sports events for examples becomes an obsession, a lifestyle.)”

One commenter summed up the situation perfectly, with Navratilova replying “for the ratio,” as she put it: “You really are the worst, Ben. You sneer at and belittle women for standing up for our right to our own sports and our own spaces like women’s crisis shelters, locker rooms and prisons, then pretend to be deeply shocked at how important it is to us when we respond. Your misogyny really knows no bounds.”

Navratilova’s staunch defense of women’s sports and sex-based spaces highlights the ongoing debate over transgender participation in sports. Her willingness to stand firm, even in the face of harsh criticism from woke reporters like Rothenberg, underscores the importance of preserving fairness and integrity in women’s sports. Navratilova’s unapologetic stance serves as a rallying cry for those who believe in the fundamental distinction between male and female athletes and the necessity of maintaining that separation to ensure fair competition.