{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox tennis biography
|name = Martina Navratilova
Martina Navrátilová
|image= Navratilova-PragueOpen2006-05 cropped.jpg
|country = {{TCH}} (1973–1975)
United States
(1975–present)
|residence =
Sarasota, FloridaSarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
, USA
|birth_date = 18 October 1956 (age 55)
|birth_place =
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czechoslovakia
|height = {{height|m=1.73|precision=0}}
|weight = 65.5 kg (144.4 lb; 10.3 st){{Use mdy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox tennis biography
|name = Martina Navratilova
Martina Navrátilová
|image= Navratilova-PragueOpen2006-05 cropped.jpg
|country = {{TCH}} (1973–1975)(2008–present)
United States
(1975–present)
|residence =
Sarasota, FloridaSarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
, USA
|birth_date = 18 October 1956 (age 55)
|birth_place =
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czechoslovakia
|height = {{height|m=1.73|precision=0}}
|weight = 65.5 kg (144.4 lb; 10.3 st)
|turnedpro = 1975
|retired= 1994–1999, 2006
|plays = Left-handed; one-handed backhand
|careerprizemoney = US$21,626,089
(6th in all-time rankings)
|tennishofyear = 2000
|tennishofid = martina-navratilova
|singlesrecord = 1,442–219 (86.8%)
|singlestitles = 167
(all-time record for men or women)
|highestsinglesranking = No. 1 (July 10, 1978)
|AustralianOpenresult =
W (
1981Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Evert 6–7 6–4 7–5 in the final to win the Women's Singles title at the 1981 Australian Open.-Seeds:The seeded players are listed below. Martina Navratilova is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.-Key:* Q = Qualifier* WC = Wild Card*...
,
1983Martina Navratilova defeated Kathy Jordan 6–2 7–6 in the final to win the Women's Singles title at the 1983 Australian Open.See also:-Seeds:...
,
1985Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Evert 6–2, 4–6, 6–2 in the final to win the Women's Singles title at the 1985 Australian Open.See also:-Seeds:...
)|
|FrenchOpenresult =
W (
1982Martina Navratilova defeated Andrea Jaeger 7-6 6-1 in the final to win the Women's Singles title at the 1982 French Open.See also:-Seeds:...
,
1984Chris Evert was the defending champion, but she was defeated by her rival Martina Navratilova in the final.-Seeds:# Martina Navratilova # Chris Evert # Hana Mandlíková # Andrea Jaeger ...
)|
|Wimbledonresult =
W (
1978Virginia Wade was the defending champion, but she was defeated in the semifinals by Chris Evert.Martina Navratilova won her first Grand Slam, of 18 and a record nine Wimbledon titles, by defeating her rival Evert in the final.-Seeds:# Chris Evert ...
,
1979Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Evert 6-4 6-4 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles title at the 1979 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:...
,
1982Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Evert 6-1 3-6 6-2 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles title at the 1982 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:...
,
1983Martina Navratilova defeated Andrea Jaeger 6-0 6-3 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles title at the 1983 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:...
,
1984Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Evert 7-6 6-2 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles title at the 1984 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:...
,
1985Martina Navrátilová defeated Chris Evert 4-6 6-3 6-2 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles title at the 1985 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:The seeded players are listed below...
,
1986Martina Navratilova defeated Hana Mandlíková 7-6 6-3 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles title at the 1986 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:...
,
1987Martina Navratilova defeated Steffi Graf 7-5 6-3 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles title at the 1987 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:...
,
1990Steffi Graf was the defending champion but lost in the semi-finals to Zina GarrisonMartina Navratilova won in the final 6–4 6–1 against Garrison.-Seeds:# Steffi Graf # Martina Navratilova ...
)|
|USOpenresult =
W (1983, 1984, 1986, 1987)
|Othertournaments = Yes
|WTAChampionshipsresult =
W (1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986
(1), 1986
(2))(all-time record)
|doublesrecord = 747–143 (83.9%)
|doublestitles = 177
(all-time record for men or women)
|highestdoublesranking = No. 1 (September 10, 1984)
|grandslamsdoublesresults = Yes
|AustralianOpenDoublesresult =
W (1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989)
|FrenchOpenDoublesresult =
W (1975, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
|WimbledonDoublesresult =
W (1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986)
|USOpenDoublesresult =
W (1977, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990)
|OthertournamentsDoubles = Yes
|WTAChampionshipsDoublesresult=
W (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986
(2), 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991)(all-time record)
| Mixed = Yes
| mixedtitles = 15
| mixedrecord =
| AustralianOpenMixedresult =
W (2003)
| FrenchOpenMixedresult =
W (1974, 1985)
| WimbledonMixedresult =
W (1985, 1993, 1995, 2003)
| USOpenMixedresult =
W (1985, 1987, 2006)
|updated = July 5, 2009
}}
Martina Navratilova ({{lang-cs|Martina Navrátilová}}, born October 18, 1956 in Prague) is a
Czech AmericanCzech Americans are citizens of the United States who were born in, or who descended from, the territory of the historic Czech lands, , or succession states, now known as the Czech Republic...
tennis player and a former
World No. 1.
Billie Jean KingBillie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
said about Navratilova in 2006, "She's the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived."
Navratilova won 18
Grand SlamThe four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She reached the
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
singles final 12 times, including nine consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the women's singles title at Wimbledon a record nine times. She and King each won 20 Wimbledon titles, an all-time record. Navratilova is one of just three women to have accomplished a career Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles (called the Grand Slam "boxed set") a record she shares with Margaret Court and
Doris HartDoris Hart is a former World No. 1 American female tennis player.As a child, she suffered from osteomyelitis, which resulted in a permanently impaired right leg...
. She holds the open era record for most singles titles (167) and doubles titles (177). She recorded the longest winning streak in the open era (74 consecutive matches) and three of the six longest winning streaks in the women's open era. Navratilova, Margaret Court and
Maureen ConnollyMaureen Catherine Connolly Brinker was an American tennis player who was the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tournaments during the same calendar year.-Biography:...
share the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (six). Navratilova reached 11 consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, second all-time to
Steffi Graf'sSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
13. In women's doubles, Navratilova and
Pam ShriverPamela Howard Shriver Lazenby , is a former professional tennis player and is currently a sports broadcaster from the United States for ESPN2. During the 1980s and 1990s, she won 133 top-level titles, including 21 women's doubles titles and one mixed doubles title at Grand Slam tournaments...
won 109 consecutive matches and won all four Grand Slam titles in 1984. Also the pair set an all time record of 79 titles together and tied Louise Brough Clapp's and
Margaret Osborne duPont's Margaret Evelyn Osborne duPont is a former World No. 1 American female tennis player.DuPont won a total of 37 singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, which places her fourth on the all-time list despite never entering the Australian Championships. She won 25 of her Grand...
record of 20 Grand Slam women's doubles titles as a team. In addition she won the season ending
WTA Tour ChampionshipsThe WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...
a record 8 times and made the finals a record 14 times and won the doubles title a record 11 times. Navratilova is the only man or woman to have won eight different tournaments at least seven times.
Originally from Czechoslovakia, she was stripped of her citizenship when, in 1975 at the age of 18, she asked the United States for political asylum and was granted temporary residency. At the time, Navratilova was told by the Czechoslovakian Sports Federation that she was becoming too Americanized and that she should go back to school and make tennis secondary. Navratilova became a US citizen in 1981, but on January 9, 2008, she had her Czech citizenship restored. She stated she has not renounced her American citizenship nor does she plan to do so and that the restoration of her Czech citizenship was not politically motivated.
Navratilova is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy. She also serves as the Health and Fitness Ambassador for
AARPAARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is the United States-based non-governmental organization and interest group, founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus, PhD, a retired educator from California, and based in Washington, D.C. According to its mission statement, it is "a...
in an alliance created to help AARP's millions of members lead active, healthy lives.
Early life and tennis career
Navratilova was born
Martina Šubertová in
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
,
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. Her parents divorced when she was three, and in 1962 her mother Jana married Miroslav Navrátil, who became her first tennis coach. Martina then took the name of her stepfather (adding the feminine suffix "ová"), thus becoming
Martina Navrátilová (ˈmarcɪna ˈnavraːcɪlovaː). Her father Mirek remarried and divorced. When she was eight, he committed suicide. In 2008, Navratilova's mother died of
emphysemaEmphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
, aged 75. Navratilova has a sister, Jana, and an older paternal half-brother.
In 1972, at the age of 15, Navratilova won the
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
national tennis championship. In 1973, aged 16, she made her debut on the
United States Lawn Tennis AssociationThe United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...
professional tour but did not turn professional until 1975. She won her first professional singles title in
Orlando, FloridaOrlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
in 1974, at the age of 17. Upon arriving in the United States, Navratilova first lived with former
VaudevilleVaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
actress,
Frances Dewey WormserFrances Dewey Wormser was an American stage actress, entertainer and vaudeville performer.-Personal life:...
, and her husband, Morton Wormser, a tennis enthusiast.
Navratilova was the runner-up at two
Grand SlamThe four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
singles tournaments in 1975. She lost in the final of the Australian Open to Evonne Goolagong Cawley and in the final of the French Open to
Chris EvertChristine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
. After losing to Evert in the semifinals of that year's US Open, the 18-year-old Navratilova went to the offices of the
Immigration and Naturalization ServiceThe United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , now referred to as Legacy INS, ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred from the Department of Justice to three new components within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as...
in New York City and informed them that she wished to defect from Communist Czechoslovakia. Within a month, she received a
green cardUnited States lawful permanent residency refers to a person's immigration status: the person is authorized to live and work in the United States of America on a permanent basis....
.
Navratilova won her first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon in 1978, where she defeated Evert in three sets in the final and captured the World No. 1 ranking for the first time. She successfully defended her Wimbledon title in 1979, again beating Evert in the final, and retained her World No. 1 ranking. In 1981, Navratilova won her third Grand Slam singles title by defeating Evert in the final of the Australian Open. Navratilova also reached the final of the US Open, where she lost a third set tiebreak to
Tracy AustinTracy Ann Austin Holt is a former World No. 1 female professional tennis player from the United States who won the women's singles title at the US Open in 1979 and 1981 and the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1980, before a series of injuries cut her career short.-To 1980:Austin defeated...
. Navratilova won both Wimbledon and the French Open in 1982.
After adopting basketball player
Nancy LiebermanNancy Elizabeth Lieberman , nicknamed "Lady Magic", is a former professional basketball player who played and coached in the WNBA.Lieberman is regarded as one of the greatest figures in women's basketball....
's exercise plan and using graphite racquets, Navratilova became the most dominant player in women's tennis. After losing in the fourth round of the first Grand Slam event of 1983, the French Open, she captured the year's three remaining Grand Slam titles (the Australian Open was held in December at that time). Navratilova's loss at the French Open was her only singles defeat during that year, during which she established an 86–1 record. Her winning percentage was the best ever for a post-1968 professional tennis player. During 1982, 1983, and 1984, Navratilova lost a total of only six singles matches.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
Navratilova won the 1984 French Open, thus holding all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously. Her accomplishment was declared a "Grand Slam" by
Philippe ChatrierPhilippe Chatrier was a French tennis player. After his playing career ended, he became a journalist, and was then involved in sports administration...
, president of the
International Tennis FederationThe International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
. Many tennis observers, however, insisted that it was not a true Grand Slam because the titles had not been won in a single calendar year. Navratilova extended her Grand Slam singles tournament winning streak to a record-equalling six following wins at Wimbledon and the US Open. She entered the 1984 Australian Open with a chance of winning all four titles in the same year. In the semifinals, however,
Helena SukováHelena Suková is a former professional tennis player from Czechia. During her career, she won 14 Grand Slam titles, 9 of them in women's doubles and 5 of them in mixed doubles...
ended
Navratilova's 74-match winning streakThe below details Martina Navratilova's 74-match winning streak in 1984 in WTA Tours .Period : January 20 to December 6, 1984...
(a record for a professional) 1–6, 6–3, 7–5.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
A left-hander, Navratilova won all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles in 1984, partnering right-handed
Pam ShriverPamela Howard Shriver Lazenby , is a former professional tennis player and is currently a sports broadcaster from the United States for ESPN2. During the 1980s and 1990s, she won 133 top-level titles, including 21 women's doubles titles and one mixed doubles title at Grand Slam tournaments...
, a tall and talented player whose most noted stroke was a slice forehand, a shot virtually unheard of in the game today. This was part of a record 109-match winning streak that the pair achieved between 1983 and 1985. (Navratilova was ranked the World No. 1 doubles player for a period of over three years in the 1980s.) From 1985 through 1987, Navratilova reached the women's singles final at all 11 Grand Slam tournaments held during those three years, winning six of them. From 1982 through 1990, she reached the Wimbledon final nine consecutive times. She reached the US Open final five consecutive times from 1983 through 1987 and appeared in the French Open final five out of six years from 1982 through 1987.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
17-year old German player
Steffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
emerged on the scene in 1987 when she beat Navratilova in the final of the French Open. Navratilova defeated Graf in the 1987 Wimbledon and US Open finals (and at the US Open became only the third player in the open era to win the women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles at the same event). Graf's consistent play throughout 1987, however, allowed her to obtain the World No. 1 ranking before the end of the year. Graf eventually broke Navratilova's records of 156 consecutive weeks and 331 total weeks as the World No. 1 singles player but did not break Navratilova's record 167 singles titles as Graf reached 107. In 1988, Graf won all four Grand Slam singles titles, beating Navratilova 5–7, 6–2, 6–1 in the Wimbledon final along the way.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
In 1989, Graf and Navratilova met in the finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open, with Graf winning both encounters in three sets. Despite the age difference between the two players, Navratilova won 9 of the 18 career singles matches with Graf and 5 of the 9 Grand Slam singles matches with her. At age 34, Navratilova defeated Graf the last time they played in a Grand Slam event in the semifinals of the 1991 US Open 7–6(2), 6–7(6), 6–4.
Navratilova's final Grand Slam singles triumph was in 1990. In the final, the 33-year old Navratilova swept
Zina GarrisonZina Lynna Garrison is a former professional tennis player from the United States. During her career, she was a women's singles runner-up at Wimbledon in 1990, a three-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champion, and a women's doubles gold medalist at the 1988 Olympic Games.-Career:An African-American...
6–4, 6–1 to claim a record-breaking ninth Wimbledon singles crown. Though that was her last Grand Slam singles title, Navratilova reached two additional Grand Slam singles finals during the remainder of career. In 1991, she lost in the US Open final to the new World No. 1
Monica SelesMonica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...
after defeating Graf in a semifinal. And then in 1994, at the age of 37, Navratilova reached the Wimbledon final, where she lost in three sets to
Conchita MartínezInmaculada Concepción Martínez Bernat is a former professional tennis player from Monzón, Aragón, Spain. She is the only Spanish woman to have won the singles title at Wimbledon, when she beat Martina Navrátilová in the 1994 Women's Singles. She also was the singles runner-up at the 1998...
. Soon after, she retired from full-time competition on the singles tour. She was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of FameThe International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...
in 2000.
In 2000, Navratilova returned to the tour to play doubles events, while rarely playing singles. In her first singles performance in eight years, at Eastbourne in 2002, she beat World No. 22
Tatiana Panova Tatiana Urayevna Panova is a Russian professional female tennis player. On 23 September 2002 Panova reached her career-high singles ranking: World No. 20....
before losing in the next round to
Daniela HantuchováDaniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...
in three sets. In 2003, she won the mixed doubles titles at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, partnering
Leander PaesLeander Adrian Paes, pronounced pās, is an Indian professional tennis player who currently features in the doubles events in the ATP tour and the Davis Cup tournament...
. This made her the oldest ever Grand Slam champion (aged 46 years, 8 months). The Australian Open victory made her the third player in history to complete a "boxed set" of Grand Slam titles by winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles at all four Grand Slam events. The Wimbledon win allowed her to equal
Billie Jean King'sBillie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
record of 20 Wimbledon titles (in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles combined) and extended her overall number of Grand Slam titles to 58 (second only to Margaret Court, who won 62). Despite being criticized for receiving a wildcard, Navratilova won a singles match in straight sets at the first round of Wimbledon in 2004, aged 47 years and eight months, to make her the oldest player to win a professional singles match in the open era. She then lost her second round match with
Gisela DulkoGisela Dulko is an Argentine female tennis player, who will, as of 4 July 2011, be ranked World No. 51 in singles and No. 4 in doubles. Although she enjoyed a modest success in singles, reaching No. 26 on November 21, 2005, and winning four WTA Tour titles, her speciality has been doubles, where...
in three sets.
On July 6, 2006, Navratilova played her last career match at Wimbledon, losing in the third round of mixed doubles to the eventual titleists, Israel's
Andy RamAndy Ram is a professional tennis player from Israel, and the first Israeli tennis player to win a seniors Grand Slam event . He plays more doubles than singles as he prefers doubles more and wins more matches...
and Russia's
Vera ZvonarevaVera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...
. Earlier that day, Navratilova lost her women's doubles quarterfinal match against Chinese fourth seeds
Yan ZiYan Zi is a Chinese women's tennis player.Yan Zi may also refer to:* Stefanie Sun , also known as Sun Yan Zi, Singaporean singer** Yan Zi , Sun's self-titled album...
and
Zheng JieZheng Jie is a Chinese professional tennis player. Her career high ranking is World No. 15 which she achieved on May 18, 2009. As of August 15, 2011, Zheng is ranked World No. 65 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles....
, also the eventual titleists. Navratilova capped off her career by winning the mixed doubles title at the 2006 US Open with
Bob BryanRobert Charles "Bob" Bryan is an American male professional tennis player. With his twin brother Mike, he has spent over 200 weeks as a World No. 1 doubles player. He has won eighteen Grand Slam titles, 11 in men's doubles and seven in mixed doubles. He turned professional in 1998...
, her 41st Grand Slam doubles title (31 in women's doubles and 10 in mixed doubles) and 177th overall. At the time, she was just over a month away from her 50th birthday.
Navratilova won 167 top-level singles titles (more than any other player in the open era) and 177 doubles titles. Her last title in women's doubles came on August 21, 2006, at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada, where she partnered with
Nadia PetrovaNadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...
. Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles: nine at Wimbledon, four at the US Open, three at the Australian Open, and two at the French Open. Her overall record in 67 Grand Slam singles events was 306–49 .862 (120–14 at Wimbledon, 89–17 at the US Open, 51–11 at the French Open, and 46–7 at the Australian Open). She won at least one tour event for 21 consecutive years and won the singles and doubles at the same event a record 84 times. Her career singles match win total of 1,442 is the most during the open era.{{cn|date=November 2011}}
In September 1992, the 35-year old Navratilova played
Jimmy ConnorsJames Scott "Jimmy" Connors is an American former world no. 1 tennis player....
in the third Battle of the Sexes tennis match at
Caesars PalaceCaesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
in
Las VegasThe Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
. Connors was allowed only one serve per point and Navratilova was allowed to hit into half the doubles court. Connors won 7–5, 6–2.{{cn|date=November 2011}}
She played for the
Boston LobstersThe Boston Lobsters are New England's World TeamTennis pro league tennis team based in Middleton, Massachusetts.The Boston Lobsters pro tennis team originally joined the WTT league in 1974 and competed until 1978...
in the World TeamTennis pro league through the 2009 season.{{cn|date=November 2011}}
Personal life
In 1981, shortly after becoming a United States citizen, Navratilova
came outComing out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
publicly about her sexual orientation. During the early 1980s, she was involved with author
Rita Mae BrownRita Mae Brown is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle. Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time...
. From 1984 to 1991, Navratilova had a long-term relationship with partner
Judy NelsonJudy Hill Nelson is an author best known for her 1983-1991 romance with and eventual palimony suit against women's tennis star Martina Navratilova. After their break-up, Ms. Nelson authored the books Love Match: Nelson vs...
. Their split in 1991, included a much-publicized legal wrangle. Navratilova was featured in a WITA (Women's International Tennis Association) calendar, shot by Jean Renard with her Wimbledon trophies and Nelson's children in the background.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
In 1985, Navratilova released an autobiography, co-written with
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
sports columnist
George VecseyGeorge Vecsey is an American non-fiction author and sports columnist for The New York Times. Vecsey is best known for his work in sports, but has co-written several autobiographies with non-sports figures.-Career:...
, entitled
Martina in the U.S. and
Being Myself in the rest of the world. She had earlier co-written a tennis instruction book with
Mary CarilloMary Carillo is an American sportscaster and former professional tennis player.-Tennis career:Carillo played on the women's professional tennis circuit from 1977 to 1980. She was ranked as high as number 33, in the WTA Rankings, from January through March 1980, then retired due to knee injuries...
in 1982, entitled
Tennis My Way. She later wrote three mystery novels with Liz Nickles:
The Total Zone (1994),
Breaking Point (1996), and
Killer Instinct (1997). Navratilova's most recent{{when|date=November 2011}} literary effort was a health and fitness book entitled
Shape Your Self, which came out in 2006.
On April 7, 2010, Navratilova announced that she was being treated for breast cancer. A routine mammography in January 2010, revealed that she had a ductal carcinoma in situ in her left breast, which she was informed of in February, and in March she had the tumour surgically removed; she received radiation therapy in May.
In December 2010, Navratilova was hospitalized after developing high altitude pulmonary edema while attempting a climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Activism and politics
When not playing tennis, Navratilova is involved with various charities that benefit
animal rightsAnimal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
,
underprivileged childrenChildren's rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young, including their right to association with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education,...
, and gay rights. She filed a lawsuit against
Amendment 2Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with civil rights and state laws. It was the first Supreme Court case to deal with LGBT rights since Bowers v...
, a 1992 ballot proposition in
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
designed to deny gays and lesbians legal protection from discrimination.{{cn|date=November 2011}} In the same year, she spoke before the
National MarchThe National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C. on October 14, 1979. The first such march on Washington, it drew between 75,000 and 125,000 gay men, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people and straight allies to demand...
on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights.{{cn|date=November 2011}}
In 2000, she was the recipient of National Equality Award from the
Human Rights CampaignThe Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
, the nation's largest gay and lesbian activist/lobbying group.
A vegetarian, Navratilova appeared in ad campaigns for
People for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
. In an April 2006 interview, however, she said she had recently begun eating fish again because she found it hard to get enough protein while on the road; which would make her a pescetarian not a vegetarian; nevertheless in 2008 she described herself as vegetarian.
She has spoken out on a number of volatile political issues, including tort/litigation reform, but perhaps her most consistent theme—aside from gay and lesbian rights—has been her unstinting opposition to Communism, and unrelenting opposition to the former Eastern Bloc power structure that she believes compelled her to flee her native Czechoslovakia. She has denounced the Soviet Union's control over Czechoslovakia, maintaining that she refuses to speak Russian to this day because of the Soviet Union's former hegemony over Eastern Europe.
"Whenever people go into politics and they try to say that Communism was a good thing, I say, 'Go ahead and live in a Communist country then, if you think it's so great.' "
Navratilova was a guest on CNN's
Connie ChungConnie Chung, full name: Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich is an American journalist who has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow and U.S...
Tonight show on July 17, 2002. During the show, Chung quoted a German newspaper which quoted Navratilova as saying: "The most absurd part of my escape from the unjust system is that I have exchanged one system that suppresses free opinion for another. The Republicans in the U.S. manipulate public opinion and sweep controversial issues under the table. It's depressing. Decisions in America are based solely on the question of how much money will come out of it and not on the questions of how much health, morals or environment suffer as a result."
Navratilova said that the remarks referred to what she perceived as a trend of centralization of government power and a loss of personal freedom. In the discussion that followed, Chung stated:
"Can I be honest with you? I can tell you that when I read this, I have to tell you that I thought it was un-American, unpatriotic. I wanted to say, go back to Czechoslovakia. You know, if you don't like it here, this a country that gave you so much, gave you the freedom to do what you want."
Navratilova responded,
"And I'm giving it back. This is why I speak out. When I see something that I don't like, I'm going to speak out because you can do that here. And again, I feel there are too many things happening that are taking our rights away."
Martina was quoted in 2007 as being ashamed of the US under President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
because unlike the communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia, Bush was elected.
Open era records
| Grand Slam tournament |
Years |
Record accomplished |
Player tied |
| 1983 Wimbledon – 1988 Australian Open |
1983–1988 |
19 consecutive Grand Slam women's singles tournament semifinals |
Stands alone(1) |
| Wimbledon |
1978–1990 |
Winner of a Grand Slam singles tournament in three decades |
Serena WilliamsSerena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
|
| Wimbledon – US Open |
1983–1984 |
6 consecutive Grand Slam singles tournament titles |
Margaret Court |
| French Open |
1984–1987 |
4 consecutive singles finals |
Chris Evert Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
Steffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
|
| Wimbledon |
1982–1987 |
6 consecutive singles titles |
Stands alone |
| Wimbledon |
1982–1990 |
9 consecutive singles finals |
Stands alone |
| Wimbledon |
1978–1994 |
12 singles finals overall |
Stands alone |
| Wimbledon |
1978–1990 |
9 singles titles overall |
Stands alone |
| Wimbledon |
1983, 84, 86, 90 |
Won Wimbledon four times in straight sets |
Stands alone |
U.S. OpenThe US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
|
1987 |
Won singles, doubles and mixed doubles at same Grand Slam event |
Doris HartDoris Hart is a former World No. 1 American female tennis player.As a child, she suffered from osteomyelitis, which resulted in a permanently impaired right leg...
Margaret Court |
| Grand Slam tournament |
1983(2), 84, 86, 87, 90 |
Won six Grand Slam tournaments in straight sets |
Serena WilliamsSerena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
|
| Grand Slam tournament |
1983 |
Won a slam in straight sets twice in the same calendar year |
Billie Jean KingBillie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
Steffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
Martina HingisMartina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
Serena WilliamsSerena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
Venus WilliamsVenus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
Justine Henin |
| Grand Slam tournament |
1985, 87 |
Reached all four Major finals in a calendar year twice The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
|
Margaret Court
Steffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
|
| Grand Slam tournament |
1978–03 |
Career Box Set having won all four Majors at singles, same sex doubles and mixed doubles |
Doris HartDoris Hart is a former World No. 1 American female tennis player.As a child, she suffered from osteomyelitis, which resulted in a permanently impaired right leg...
Margaret Court |
| Grand Slam tournament |
1975–91 |
31 Combined Doubles titles (mixed, same sex) |
Stands alone |
| Grand Slam tournament |
1975–91 |
20 Doubles titles (same sex) |
Louise Brough Clapp
Margaret Osborne duPont Margaret Evelyn Osborne duPont is a former World No. 1 American female tennis player.DuPont won a total of 37 singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, which places her fourth on the all-time list despite never entering the Australian Championships. She won 25 of her Grand...
|
| WTA Tour Championships The WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...
|
1978–92 |
8 Won |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour Championships |
1978–92 |
14 Finals |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour Championships |
1978–92 |
11 Won (doubles) |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1978–92 |
12 Wins single tournament Chicago |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1978–93 |
11 Wins single tournament Eastbourne |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1978–93 |
9 Wins single tournament Dallas |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1975–90 |
9 Wins single tournament Washington |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1978–93 |
8 Wins single tournament Los Angeles |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1978–93 |
7 Wins single tournament Orlando |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1976–85 |
6 Wins single tournament Houston |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1978–93 |
6 Wins single tournament Filderstadt & Stuttgart The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...
|
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1979–93 |
5 Wins single tournament Stanford & Oakland The Bank of the West Classic is a week-long tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States. The 2011 event will be held on July 25th to July 31st. Started in 1971, the tournament is the oldest women's-only tournament in the world...
|
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1975–96 |
5 Wins single tournament US Indoors The US Indoors, known formally as the U.S. Indoor Championships, was a national tennis championship for women that was sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association and held 79 times from 1907 through 2001 at various locations and on various surfaces. The event was affiliated with the WTA...
|
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1978–89 |
5 Wins single tournament Sydney |
Stands alone |
| WTA Tour |
1975–89 |
5 Wins single tournament Boston |
Stands alone |
(1)Chris Evert reached 34 non-consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinals from the 1971 US Open through the 1983 French Open, although she did not play 14 Grand Slam singles tournaments during that time.
Awards
- ITF World Champion 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986.
- WTA Player of the Year
This is a list with all the WTA Awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players who have done or achieved something remarkable during the season or their career.-Player of the Year:-Doubles Team of the Year:-Most Improved Player:...
1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986.
Recognition
Tennis magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005. Tennis historian and journalist
Bud Collins-External links:*** 2001 interview with Collins*...
has called Navratilova "arguably, the greatest player of all time."
Tennis writer Steve Flink, in his book
The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century, named her as the second best female player of the 20th century, directly behind
Steffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
.
In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
.
I'm a Celebrity
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2011}}
In November 2008, Martina Navratilova appeared on the UK's
ITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
series
Series 8I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! returned to ITV for an eighth series from 16 November to 5 December 2008. Ant & Dec returned to present the main show on ITV, whilst Matt Willis, Emma Willis and Mark Durden-Smith returned to host spin-off show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here... Now! on...
of
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! is a British reality television show, first screened in 2002, in which celebrities live in jungle conditions with few creature comforts. The show is filmed in Australia and broadcast on ITV in the UK and on TV3 in Ireland. The show is one of the largest in the...
; she finished runner-up to
Joe SwashJoseph Adam Swash is an English actor and presenter. He once played Mickey Miller in the British television soap opera EastEnders. He is the older brother of Shana Swash, who played his on-screen younger sister Demi Miller until July 2006. He also won the TV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me...
.
See also
{{Portal|Tennis}}
- Evert–Navratilova rivalry
Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are retired professional tennis players who engaged in a fifteen-year rivalry from 1973 to 1988 in 80 matches. It is considered to be one of the greatest in tennis history and in sports in general.-List of all matches:...
- Graf–Navratilova rivalry
Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova have met 18 times during their careers. Their overall head-to-head series currently stands at 9–9., with Graf having a 4–2 record in Grand Slam finals and Navratilova having a 5-4 record in Grand Slam matches winning the last Grand Slam match between the two of...
- List of Eastern Bloc defectors
Video
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2011}}
Wimbledon 1978 Final – Navratilova vs. Evert (2003) starring: Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: August 16, 2005, Run Time: 102 minutes, ASIN: B000A343R8
External links
{{commons|Martina Navratilova}}
{{Martina Navratilova start boxes}}
{{navboxes|title=Martina Navratilova in the
Grand Slam TournamentsThe four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
|list1=
{{navboxes|title=
Women's singles
|list1=
{{Australian Open women's singles champions}}
{{French Open women's singles champions}}
{{Wimbledon women's singles champions}}
{{US Open women's singles champions}}
}}
{{navboxes|title=
Women's doubles
|list1=
{{Australian Open women's doubles champions}}
{{French Open women's doubles champions}}
{{Wimbledon women's doubles champions}}
{{US Open women's doubles champions}}
}}
{{navboxes|title=
Mixed doubles
|list1=
{{Australian Open mixed doubles champions}}
{{French Open mixed doubles champions}}
{{Wimbledon mixed doubles champions}}
{{US Open mixed doubles champions}}
}}
{{navboxes|title=Others
|list1=
{{Tennis Career Grand Slam Champions}}
{{Women's tennis players who won two or more Grand Slam singles titles in one calendar year}}
}}
}}
{{navboxes|title=Martina Navratilova
AchievementsThis is a list of the main career statistics of former tennis player Martina Navratilova.-Singles: 32 finals :By winning the 1983 US Open title, Navratilova completed the Career Grand Slam...
|list1=
{{Tennis World Number Ones (women)}}
{{WTA World No.1 doubles players}}
{{WTA Year-End Championship winners}}
{{WTA Year-End Championships winners doubles}}
}}
{{I'm_a_Celebrity…Get_Me_out_of_Here!}}
{{I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here! UK Series 8}}
{{Persondata
|NAME=Navratilova, Martina
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=former tennis player
|DATE OF BIRTH=October 18, 1956
|PLACE OF BIRTH=Prague, Czechoslovakia
|DATE OF DEATH=
|PLACE OF DEATH=
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Navratilova, Martina}}