She was definitely polarizing. In her heyday, she was one of the highest paid, endorsed and famous athlete in the world, despite not winning much of anything. She was arguably the most popular female tennis player in the sport, more-so than the Williams sisters. Many fans didn't understand what all the fuss was about. Advertisers understood it quite well, that men will watch ladies tennis when the players look like Anna Kournikova.
Some years ago I once saw (on TV) an eye-popping match between Ms. Kournikova and Jelena Dokic.
Man, that was entertainment!
CA....
Which merely understates the fact that men will only watch women's sports when the females are attractive. I doubt many men tuned in to watch Navratilova. She was a great player but unattractive. The fact that she was a lesbian didn't help much either. Might not reflect well on the male sex, but the reality is men would rather a watch a good-looking female loser than a not-so-good looking female winner.