The British ace vowed to rethink her schedule after she suffered a first-round defeat in the US Open last week and the tennis legend stressed that she is the only person who can improve her performance on the court.

Navratilova told Sky Sports: "I think Emma needs to take ownership of herself, of her brand, and of her tennis career most of all. She needs to be clear who her team is, what her goal is and not let herself off the hook.

"Aryna Sabalenka, when she had problems with her serve and everybody was trying to help her, she took ownership of it and fixed it herself.

"Emma needs to be in charge and she's old enough to know what she should be doing - surround herself with good people and then trust in them, and give it time so that you can see the results.

"Technically she is great, but she needs more matchplay. I still don't think she is as fit as she should be.

"I feel like if you don't want to play the Olympics because it's a different surface, you need to fix your body. Maybe it's just not equipped for this kind of stress.

"She needs to think long-term... not tomorrow or next week."

Navratilova also believes that she and her great rival Chris Evert would be able to compete in modern tennis if she was playing in the present day.

The 18-time Grand Slam singles champion said: "I would be just fine, and so would Chris because we would have been taught differently.

"If we played the same way, with wooden rackets, no chance, But I would like to see today's players using wooden rackets and see how they'd fare.

"The game has evolved. My technique is different now from when I first came on the tour... it's different from how it was 30 years ago.

"We would be fine because we're both amazing tennis players and we would figure it out."