Martina Navratilova explains why she and Serena Williams were not present at the Wimbledon Center Court's centenary celebrations

A host of former Wimbledon winners took part in a poignant ceremony to commemorate the Center Court's 100th anniversary on Sunday, with Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams the notable absentees.

Former champions including Roger Federer, Billie Jean King, Martina Hingis, Chris Evert, Venus Williams, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Andy Murray, and Goran Ivanisevic attended the ceremony, which took place on the iconic court.

Navratilova, a nine-time champion at the grass Slam, took to Twitter to explain the reason for the duo's absence.

"I believe Serena [Williams] left town and I have Covid as I am looking at Centre court from my window," Navratilova wrote.

Confirming that she had been diagnosed with COVID-19, the former World No.1 said that she was "gutted" that she couldn't be present at the celebration.

"Yup, got it here for sure… oh well. So wanted to be on that court with so many champions of our sport and I am gutted I can’t be there," she wrote.

Others who were absent from the parade included Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Steffi Graf, Boris Becker, Maria Sharapova, and Virginia Wade.

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"I am sorry she is not here, she carried me the year I won 20" - Billie Jean King on Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships

Billie Jean King, a former World No. 1 and an old foe of Navratilova, was in awe of her. The fact that the 78-year-old King praised Navratilova while she was away demonstrated once more how well connected the two are to date.

King highlighted how they both encouraged and aided each other in their accomplishments, commending Navratilova for her remarkable achievement of winning nine Wimbledon titles.

"Martina couldn't be with us and she won nine Wimbledon Singles," King said. "So, I would just like to say I am sorry she is not here but she surely carried me the year I won 20 and then I helped coach her in 90 to help her win her ninth singles title."

Shortly afterwards, Navratilova wasted no time and showed her gratitude towards Billie Jean King via Twitter. She shared a video of King's speech and captioned the post with "Thanks Billie."

Martina Navratilova is considered to be Wimbledon's most successful champion, having won 20 slam titles on the hallowed lawns of SW19. It includes nine singles titles, seven doubles titles and three mixed doubles titles.

She made it to the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including nine years in a row between 1982 and 1990 and surpassed Helen Wills Moody's eight Wimbledon title record.

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