Tennis doubles legend Todd Woodbridge has hit out at what he considers 'rude' questions directed at his wife, Natasha. The 55-year-old Sydney-born star bristles when people enquire about what his partner does for a living, given that she sacrificed her own career to support his professional tennis journey.
During his playing career, Woodbridge forged Grand Slam-winning partnerships with Mark Woodforde and later Jonas Bjorkman, claiming a remarkable nine Wimbledon titles.
Since hanging up his racket in 2005, he has established himself as a media personality, working as a pundit for the Seven Network and Nine in Australia, while also hosting programmes such as Tipping Point.
Just weeks after the couple marked their 31st anniversary, Woodbridge told Nine: 'Tash is an incredibly strong-willed, competitive woman. And at some point, people go, 'Oh, what do you do for a job?' and I butt in because it's a rude question.'
'It's rude because Tash played the role of partner, wife, psychologist, running our travel, running our house, putting the kids through school, while I was focused on one thing, and that was a job on its own.'
The pair began dating when Todd was 18 and Natasha was 16, just as he was making his mark in the tennis world. For the following 17 years, they spent 38 weeks a year on the road, something Woodbridge remains deeply grateful for.
'By her own choice, she gave up her own challenges to do the ones for us,' he said. 'At that age, a lot of people go on gap years and stuff, but this was it. This was the commitment and I think it's pretty rare.'
'It's very easy to move in and out of relationships. None of it could've been easy, dealing with the ups and downs of tennis, the mood swings and losses and ranking changes. It wasn't travelling the world. It was managing all of those pieces of our puzzle and I'm really proud of her.'
The pair wed in their early twenties and went on to become parents to Zara, now 25, and Beau, now 23. Woodbridge has stated he wants his children to pursue their own path and not feel pressured to emulate his tennis achievements.
Beau has discovered his passion, having completed a Master of Arts degree at the Royal Academy of Music. Zara is a keen golfer who has represented the Golf Victoria state squad. She also holds ambitions of becoming a dietitian.
'We like golf, that's something we do now,' Todd said of Zara. 'We plan our trips away around golf, places where we can go see the world but play golf, you know? I asked her, 'Would you like to do a trip to the Maldives?' She goes, 'Oh it'd be lovely, but there's no golf course there'. She's a sporting woman at heart.'
Woodbridge stands as one of the most accomplished doubles players in history. He secured 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles, including nine Wimbledon titles, three US Opens, three Australian Opens and the French Open.
He won a further six Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, among them three US Opens, the French Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open. Rounding off an extraordinary career, he also secured a gold medal alongside Woodforde at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
