Navratilova was born
Martina Šubertová in 1956. 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 (
IPA: ).
In 1972 at the age of 15, Navratilova won the Czech republic national tennis championship. In 1973, aged 16, she made her debut on the USLTA professional tour but did not turn professional until 1975. She won her first professional singles title in
Orlando, Florida in 1974 at the age of 17.
A left-handed
serve-and-volleyer with superb
volleying skills, Navratilova raised the women’s game to new levels with her power and aggression.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/wimbledon_2003/history/2966596.stm She struggled with her weight in the early years of her career and was at one point unflatteringly labelled the “Great Wide Hope” by
journalist Bud Collins. Her determination, however, to reach the top of the game saw her embark on a punishing routine to get herself into shape, assisted by
basketball player
Nancy Lieberman. Eventually, extreme levels of fitness and conditioning were hallmarks of her game. She also was quick to adopt graphite racquet technology.
Navratilova was a finalist at two
Grand Slam 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 Evert. After losing to Evert in the semifinals of that year's
U.S. Open, the 18-year-old Navratilova went to the offices of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service in
New York City and informed them that she wished to
defect from
Communist Czechoslovakia. Within a month, she received a
green card.
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 beat Evert in the final again to successfully defend her Wimbledon title in 1979.
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 U.S. Open, where she lost a third set tiebreak to
Tracy Austin. Navratilova won both Wimbledon and the French Open in 1982.
Following adoption of Lieberman'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 professional tennis player. During 1982, 1983, and 1984, Navratilova lost a total of only six singles matches.
Navratilova won the 1984 French Open, enabling her to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously. Her accomplishment was declared a "Grand Slam" by
Philippe Chatrier, who was the president of the
International Tennis Federation. 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 U.S. Open. She entered the 1984 Australian Open with a chance of winning all four titles in the same year. In the semifinals, however,
Helena Suková ended
Navratilova's 74-match winning streak (a record for a professional) 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.
The left-handed Navratilova succeeded in winning all four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles in 1984, partnering right-handed
Pam Shriver, a tall and talented player whose most noted stroke was a slice forehand, a shot that is 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.)
In the three years from 1985 to 1987, Navratilova reached the women’s singles final at all 11 Grand Slam tournaments held during those years, winning six of them (and extending her run of triumphs at Wimbledon to a record six consecutive).
A new threat to the 30-year old Navratilova's dominance, in the form of 17-year old German player
Steffi Graf, emerged on the scene in 1987 when she beat Navratilova in the final of the French Open, whipping forehands and sliced backhand passing shots out of Navratilova’s reach. Navratilova beat Graf in the 1987 Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals (and at the U.S. 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). But Graf's consistent play throughout 1987 allowed her to obtain the World No. 1 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. In 1989, Graf and Navratilova met in the finals of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, with Graf winning both encounters in three sets. Despite the significant 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.
Navratilova's final Grand Slam singles triumph was in 1990. Graf lost in the Wimbledon semifinals that year to
Zina Garrison. In the final, the 33-year old Navratilova swept Garrison 6-4, 6-1 to claim a record-breaking ninth Wimbledon singles crown. Though that was her last Grand Slam singles title, Navratilova made two further major finals in the years that followed. In 1991, she lost in the U.S. Open final to the new World No. 1
Monica Seles, 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 Martinez. Soon after, she retired from the singles tour. She was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000.
In 2000, Navratilova returned to the tour to play doubles events, while rarely also playing singles. In her first singles performance in eight years, at Eastbourne in 2002, she beat world number 22 Tatiana Panova and lost in the next round to Daniela Hantuchova in three sets. In 2003, she won the mixed doubles titles at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, partnering
Leander Paes. This made her the oldest ever Grand Slam champion (aged 46 years, 8 months). The Australian Open victory made her only the third player in history to complete a “boxed set” of Grand Slam titles by winning the women’s singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles at all four slams. The Wimbledon win allowed her to equal
Billie Jean King’s 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 decisively won a singles match in straight sets at the first round of Wimbledon in 2004, aged 47 years and 8 months, to make her the oldest player to win a professional singles match in the open era. She also won the first set of her second round match, but lost the match (to Gisela Dulko), and later noted that the angle of the sun, as the evening match progressed, made it very difficult to serve and volley.
Over the course of her career, Navratilova won 167 top-level singles titles (more than any other player in the Open Era) and 177 doubles titles. Her most recent title in women's doubles (a
Tier I event) came on
August 21, 2006, at the
Rogers Cup in
Montreal, Canada, where she won the women's doubles event partnering
Nadia Petrova. Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her career: 9 at Wimbledon, 4 at the U.S. Open, 3 at the Australian Open, and 2 at the French Open. Her overall record in 67 Grand Slam events was 306-49 .862 (120-14 at Wimbledon, 89-17 at the U.S. 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.
On
July 5, 2006, Navratilova announced that Wimbledon 2006 would be her last and by the end of the 2006 season, she would retire from doubles play. On
July 6, 2006, Navratilova played her last ever match at Wimbledon, losing in the
mixed doubles to the titleists, Israel's
Andy Ram and Russia's
Vera Zvonareva, in the third round. Earlier on the same day, Navratilova lost her women's doubles quarterfinal match against Chinese fourth seeds
Zi Yan and
Jie Zheng, also the titleists. Navratilova capped off her career by winning the mixed doubles title at the
2006 U.S. Open with
Bob Bryan, 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. The only Grand Slam mixed doubles title that eluded her since her return was the French Open.
