Martina Navratilova Goes Scorched Earth on US Oil Companies Over Venezuela Crisis
If you thought the tennis court was the only place Martina Navratilova served up serious heat, you clearly haven’t seen her X (formerly Twitter) timeline lately. The 18-time Grand Slam singles champion has never been one to shy away from a volley—political or otherwise—and her latest target isn’t an umpire or a rival player. It’s the US oil industry and the current administration’s aggressive moves in Venezuela.
While the world watches the chaotic aftermath of the US military intervention and the capture of Nicolás Maduro, Navratilova is zeroing in on the corporate angle, and let’s just say she isn’t exactly waving an American flag in support. She’s calling for international sanctions against US companies, and the internet is absolutely losing its mind over it.
Navratilova Co-Signs Calls for ICC Sanctions
Here is the tea: Journalist and filmmaker Lauren Windsor took to X to drop a pretty heavy take, stating, “Any American oil company that expropriates oil from Venezuela should be sanctioned by the International Criminal Court.”
Now, usually, celebrities might scroll past that or maybe drop a cautious like. Not Martina. She quoted it and added a simple, two-word endorsement that rang louder than a forehand smash: “Love it.”
She didn’t stop there. When you look at the context, it’s clear this isn’t just a casual comment. We are talking about the International Criminal Court (ICC) here. Suggesting that American companies—the heavy hitters of the energy sector—should face war crime-level tribunals for grabbing Venezuelan oil is a massive statement. It highlights just how furious Navratilova is about the optics of this “intervention.” To her, and many others in her replies, this doesn’t look like liberation; it looks like a resource raid.
The “Peace President” Myth Gets Busted
What makes this whole saga even more spicy is the weird, tangled web of Navratilova’s politics regarding President Trump. If you’ve been following the drama, you know she actually sides with the Trump administration on the specific issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports. But if you think that makes her a MAGA supporter, you are sorely mistaken.
She has been absolutely tearing into Trump’s “peace president” branding. After Trump boasted about being a unifier at the start of his second term, Navratilova wasn’t having any of it. She posted, “Peace president my ass!” and proceeded to call him a “serial criminal.”
It’s a fascinating dynamic. She agrees with him on one very specific sports-related policy, but when it comes to foreign policy and seizing oil reserves, she is ready to see his administration’s corporate allies dragged before an international court. It just goes to show that for Navratilova, loyalty isn’t about party lines; it’s about whatever she feels is right (or wrong) in the moment.
Calling Out the “Hostage” Situation
The situation in Venezuela is messy, to put it mildly. You’ve got Trump saying the US will “run” the country until a transition happens. You’ve got Senator Marco Rubio talking about an “oil quarantine.” And then you’ve got Navratilova, looking at reports of Wall Street and energy execs swooping in, and calling it what she thinks it is.
In a follow-up post, she described the US strategy as “Holding a country hostage while pillaging its natural resources.” She then sarcastically predicted the administration’s next targets, writing, “Next stop- either Greenland or Nigeria.”
That creates a pretty grim picture. While the administration is framing this as a takedown of a “narco-terrorism conspiracy” involving Maduro, critics like Navratilova see it as an old-school imperialist grab for the world’s largest proven oil reserves. And let’s be real, when you have 300 billion barrels of oil sitting there, and the US president is talking about American companies “making money” fixing the infrastructure, the skepticism isn’t exactly coming out of nowhere.
Why This Matters for the Legacy of Navratilova
We live in an era where athletes are often told to “shut up and dribble” (or volley, in this case). But Navratilova has been an activist since before it was cool, or profitable, to be one. Whether you agree with her stance on the ICC or think she’s way off base, you have to respect the consistency. She doesn’t care if her opinion alienates the left (on sports issues) or the right (on literally everything else).
Her calling for sanctions on US companies is a bold move that puts her squarely in opposition to the current “America First” energy dominance narrative. It reinforces that she is watching the geopolitical scoreboard just as closely as she used to watch the line calls at Wimbledon.
As the US continues its “oil quarantine” and tries to manage the fallout of the Maduro capture, don’t expect Navratilova to quiet down. She’s sitting courtside on this political drama, and she’s got plenty of balls left to serve.
