Navratilova, Martina
Tennis
b. Oct. 8, 1956, Prague, Czechoslovakia
Navratilova's stepfather began giving her tennis lessons when she was six and she entered her first tournament when she was eight, reaching the semi-finals against girls as old as twelve. She won the Czech women's singles title in 1972 and came to the U. S. for the first time the following year.
Czech officials criticized her for being "too Americanized" after her return and only reluctantly allowed her to compete in the 1975 U. S. Open. After losing in the semi-finals, she asked for political asylum and defected.
Navratilova won six tournaments in 1977. She took her first Wimbledon singles title in 1978 and repeated the following year. By the early 1980s, she had emerged as the best women player in the world, surpassing Chris Evert, who was two years older.
Interestingly, they both won 18 singles championships in the grand slam tournaments, and they had many classic duels on the court, with Navratilova's athletic, aggressive, serve and volley style contrasting with Evert's consistent ground strokes from the baseline.
In 1982, Navratilova began an unprecedented run at Wimbledon, winning the first of six consecutive singles championships. She also won the U. S. Open in 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1987, the French Open in 1982 and 1984, and the Australian Open in 1981, 1983, and 1985. Just when it seemed she was past her prime, she won her ninth Wimbledon title in 1990.
Navratilova announced her retirement from singles play after losing to Conchita Martinez in the 1994 Wimbledon finals. The following year, she won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon and then announced she was also retiring from major doubles competition.
However, she returned to doubles play in 2002, winning a championship with Natasha Zvereva, and in 2003 she won seven women's doubles titles with three different partners, and she teamed with Leander Paes to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles championship. At the age of 47, Navratilova then decided to give singles play another shot at Wimbledon. She won a first-round match in 2004 but was eliminated in the second round.
Navratilova was named Associated Press female athlete of the year in 1983, when she won 86 of 87 matches, and in 1986, when she was ranked Number One in the world for the sixth consecutive year. She won 18 grand slam singles championships, which ties her with Evert for fourth place on the all-time list. She added 31 women's doubles and 9 mixed doubles titles for a total of 58 major championships, second only to Margaret Court Smith.
Her 167 tournament victories is the all-time record, 13 ahead of Evert, and she ranks second in career winnings.