Wimbledon 2015 stars slammed by Martina Navratilova for wearing headphones on Centre Court

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Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams wore headphones as they walked onto Wimbledon's historic Centre Court for their quarter-final match
Martina Navratilova said it was 'unnecessary' to be listening to music
Opinion divided on Twitter, although many felt tennis should be focus

Published: 05:00 EST, 8 July 2015 | Updated: 05:11 EST, 8 July 2015

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The generation gap between the tennis legends of yesteryear and the new breed of player was abundantly clear last night.

Speaking on BBC2's Wimbledon 2Day highlights programme, Martina Navratilova criticised players at this year's tournaments for wearing headphones as they arrived on court.

Discussing yesterday's quarter-final match, the nine-times Wimbledon Champion told host Clare Balding that she found Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams' arrival on court wearing the popular Beats by Dr.Dre earphones 'disrespectful'.

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Sing when you're winning: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus led US tennis icon Serena Williams onto Centre Court yesterday; both were listening to music, prompting a discussion on BBC 2's Wimbledon 2Day programme

'Disrespectful': Martina Navratilova was clear that she thought the women's quarter-finalists should have stopped listening to their music before they arrived on court

Pam Shriver (far left) also mentioned the fact that many players are sponsored by headphone companies to wear them. She told programme host Clare Balding (far right): 'I think they should be able to listen to their music until the second before they walk through the those doors and then, I'm sorry, that's done'

Navratilova said: 'It's been a pattern now, a lot of players do it.

'I think it's disrespectful to the game, to the crowd. You walk out to connect with the audience not to disconnect with them.

'And it's just unnecessary to be listening to music, what, for ten more seconds?'

Co-commentator, Pam Shriver, added that many of the players have lucrative deals with headphone companies.

'It's an endorsement deal. I think they should be able to listen to their music until the second before they walk through the those doors and then, I'm sorry, that's done.'

She added: 'You want to acknowledge a Centre Court crowd. As they're acknowledging you.'

Williams, who won the high-quality match, and Azarenka aren't the only SW19 players to have sported headphones.

Bling thing: Serena wears gold-plated Beats headphones with a bright red lead

Dustin Brown, who ousted Rafael Nadal is also a big fan of the Beats headphones and wears them on top of his trademark dreadlocks

Aussie superbrat Nick Kyrgios wore his headphones inbetween games during his match, which he lost, against Richard Gasquet earlier this week

Australian bad-boy Nick Kyrgios, now out of the tournament, wore headphones inbetween games against Richard Gasquet of France earlier this week.

And Dustin Brown, who ousted Rafael Nadal, is also a fan, wearing a bright red pair of Beats by Dr. Dre atop his trademark dreadlocks.

What did the Twittersphere make of the debate?

It was generally divided, although plenty felt like the commentators should have stuck to talking about the game rather than the audio preferences of the sporting stars.

User @AaronH02056 wrote: 'Why, on such a great day of tennis, was this headphones rubbish even being mentioned on a recap show?'

In favour of the earphones was @cillaMMIX, who argued: 'How is it disrespectful for players to wear headphones while working in [sic] court?

On the other side of the net, @drakestonehotel aired a different, distinctly sexist, view, saying: 'Unbelievable that these silly little girls come on court wearing headphones' while @LisaRBriscoe wrote: 'As if it is acceptable to wear headphones when you walk onto the court! If a footballer did that?!'