Navratilova, Martina

Martina was born on October 18, 1956 in Prague , Czechoslovakia . Her parents divorced when Martina was 3 years old, and her mother married Miroslav Navratil, who became Martina's first coach. Martina has siblings.

Martina Navratilova - the ancestor of modern power female tennis. She was the first to use athletic elements, the first to borrow the element “feed - exit to the net” from men, which brought her 9 wins in Wimbledon singles. Martina was the first among women to adopt the summer game, which was most effective on grass courts.

Martina started playing tennis at the age of 9 under the guidance of the famous Czechoslovak coach Jiri Parma . The first successes quickly come to the girl. At the age of 15 she wins the championship of her country, and at 17 she becomes the first racket of Czechoslovakia. According to Martina herself, she began to dream about the championship at Wimbledon after she personally saw the game of the male tennis legend Rod Laver , who arrived in Prague in the late 60s.

In 1973, Martina first went abroad and participated in international competitions. Specialists admire her play style - unusually active, attacking. The athlete constantly uses the “feed-output to the net” combination. Martina’s career is increasing.

In 1975, together with Chris Evert, she won the first titles at the Grand Slam tournaments - in France and at Wimbledon. A grand rivalry begins between Navratilova and Evert, which will last 15 years. 80 times the athletes will meet on the court and play a record number of finals in Grand Slam tournaments. 43 matches will be won by Navratilova. In the same year, Navratilova achieved her first great successes in singles - she twice reached the finals of the Grand Slam tournaments (in France he lost to Chris Evert, and in the final of the Australian Open, Yvonne Gulagong-Cowley ).

After the semi-finals of the US Open, Navratilova decided to stay in the United States and not return to Czechoslovakia, motivating his decision with the desire to be a free person, which was impossible in socialist Czechoslovakia. A month later, at the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Navratilova received a special card for the possibility of living in the United States and was deprived of Czechoslovakia citizenship. She received US citizenship in 1981 . January 9, 2008 Navratilova returned Czech citizenship.

In 1978, Wimbledon won his first singles Grand Slam tournament. A year later, Martina again wins at Wimbledon, confirming the status of the strongest tennis player on grass courts.

The first racket of the world since July 10, 1978 . In the period 1982-86, Navratilova completely dominated women's tennis. In 1983-84, she won in a row 6 Grand Slam tournaments, which is a record. In 1984, Martina was one step away from winning the Grand Slam in singles, but at the end of the season she lost to Helena Sukova in the semifinals of the Australian Open (at that time this tournament was held at the end of the year). For a long time, Chris Evert remained the main rival of Navratilova. In the period 1982-87, Navratilova and Evert met 10 times in the finals of Grand Slam tournaments. 7 victories in the account of Navratilova. During this period, of the 446 matches held, Martin will win 432. The performance will be a record 96.9%. During 1982-84, Navratilova lost only six singles. For nine consecutive years she went to the Wimbledon finals (1982-1990), five years in a row she played in the finals of the US Open (1983-1987); in the period 1982-87, five times reached the finals of the French Open. From 1985 to 1987 , Navratilova played in 11 finals of Grand Slam tournaments. At the same time, Navratilova out of competition and in the pair competition with Pam Shriver . In 1984, they won the Grand Slam. More than three years were the first in the list of the strongest couples in the world.

In 1986, the young 17-year-old German woman, Steffi Graf , began to beat Navratilova, and in 1987 Martina lost her title to her, although she won two Grand Slam tournaments against one against Graf. But German overall performance was higher (for example, the balance of “victory-defeat” in 1987, Graf was 75–2, and Navratilova 56–8; Graf won 11 WTA tournaments in 1987 , and Navratilova only 4). Martina was still trying to compete with Steffi, but every year the scales were more and more inclined in favor of a German woman, on whose side was youth. And the results of Navratilova began to decline. In 1988, Steffi Graf defeats Navratilova in the Wimbledon finals. After this defeat, Navratilova finally lost the title of the strongest on any tennis surface.

Already in 1987, Navratilova broke up with coach Mike Estep , replacing several more coaches in a short time. However, her results continued to deteriorate: in 1988, she lost to Natalia Zvereva in the fourth round of the French Open and Zina Harrison in the quarter-finals of the US Open. After losing in April 1989 from Zvereva in the semifinals of the Hilton Head Island tournament, Navratilova thought about ending her career. However, she decided to make another attempt to return to the top and began working with Billy Jean King as a coach. King was able to demonstrate to her new ward that she is able to beat Graf, using their matches at the Wimbledon tournament and the US Open 1989 as an example (both lasted three sets, with the last Navratilova leading 1-0 in sets and 4-2 in the second set, missing the victory). In 1990, Martina missed both of the first Grand Slam tournaments, fully tuned in for her ninth victory at Wimbledon. ^[7] This tactic bore fruit: Navratilova won the title. True, in the final, it was not Graf who opposed her, but Zina Harrison (she unexpectedly beat a German in the semifinal). Martina became the absolute record holder for the number of victories in the main tournament of the year.

Navratilova was no longer able to head the rating again. After an exciting rivalry with the Count in 1987-90, in 1990, Monica Seles , Arancha Sanchez-Vicario and Gabriela Sabatini began to push her into secondary roles.

In 1992, following the example of Billie Jean King Navratilova, she fought against the famous Jimmy Connors in the series “Battle of the Sexes”. Connors won with a score of 7-5, 6-2.

In 1994, at the age of 37, she reached the Wimbledon finals for the last time in her career.

In 1995, Martina decided to end her professional career. Martina’s grand farewell tour took place in the most important cities where she performed. However, the love of tennis was so strong that in 2001 Navratilova returned to professional tennis. True, due to her considerable age, Martina performed only in doubles and mixed doubles. After winning the Australian Open in 2003 in a mixed double with Leander Paes , Martina Navratilova’s collection has a full set of titles at all Grand Slam tournaments in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. After Doris Hart and Margaret Court , Navratilova became the third tennis player who was submissive to this achievement (nobody achieved similar success among male tennis players).

In 2004, for the first time in her career, she took part in the Athens Summer Olympics . In the same season, Navratilova got a wildcard in the main draw of Wimbledon in singles and managed to win the first round match, becoming 47 years and 8 months the oldest winner of a single match in the history of WTA tournaments.

In the 2006 season , she won the US Open in mixed doubles paired with Bob Bryan , becoming the 50th oldest Grand Slam winner in the 50s. In the same season, she announced the end of her professional career. ^[eight]

Navratilova speaks several languages ​​(including can be spoken in Russian), loves literature and art. He constantly advises and helps promising young athletes in training.

On April 7, 2010, Martina told reporters that she is currently undergoing treatment for severe breast cancer ^[9] .

She was engaged in professional tennis in 1975 - 2006 . She won 167 singles and 177 doubles tournaments - both of these achievements are an absolute record of all time for men and women. Navratilova owns the records of the unbeaten run: singles 74 victorious matches, paired with Pam Shriver - 109 wins continuously. In 1984, it showed record performance in the history of tennis - in 86 games for the season suffered only one defeat. For fourteen seasons Martina Navratilova played in the finals of the final tournament of the year among the strongest tennis players in the world. This is also a record achievement. Navratilova is one of the few athletes in the world of tennis who has won all the Grand Slam tournaments in all three categories - singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

Best results in Grand Slam tournaments :

• Champion of Australia ( 1981 , 1983 , 1985 ) in singles.
• Champion of Wimbledon ( 1978 , 1979 , 1982 - 1987 , 1990 ) in singles.
• Champion of the USA ( 1983 , 1984 , 1986 , 1987 ) in singles.
• Champion of the French Open ( 1982 , 1984 ) in singles.
• Winner of the 1984 Grand Slam in doubles (with Pam Shriver).
• The holder of the "non-classical" Grand Slam in singles: Wimbledon tournament, US Open and the Australian Open in 1983 (the Australian Open was held at that time in December) and the French Open in 1984 .

Martina Navratilova was the first of the world-class athletes to openly admit that she was a lesbian ^[6] . Being the first racket of the world, in the mid-80s Navratilova openly demonstrated her relationship with close friends, the tennis team also consisted exclusively of women.

In 2009, it was announced that the athlete was engaged to the former Vice-Miss of the USSR and took 3rd place at the Miss Universe beauty pageant in 1991 ^{[10] by} Julia Lemigova ^{[11] [12] [13]} . In September 2014, during the US Open, she invited her to formalize her relationship ^{[14] [15]} . The wedding ceremony took place on December 15 in New York ^{[16] [17]} .

Grand Slam Singles Tournament Finals (32)

Victories (18)

Lost (14)

Final Tournament of the Year Finals (14)

• After Navratilova fled to the West in 1975, the Soviet press was forbidden to mention her name ^[18] . Therefore, the newspaper Pravda responded to the first victory of Navratilova in the Wimbledon final with the following words:

In the men's category, the Swede Björn Borg became the champion of Wimbledon, having beaten American Jimmy Connors in the final. In the women's final, three-time Wimbledon champion Chris Evert suffered a defeat.

- BBC: "Cocaine Cream at Wimbledon"

• Official website of Martina Navratilova
• WTA Website Profile
• Profile on ITF website
• Profile on the Federation Cup website

• Martina Navratilova on the website of the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Martina Navratilova on the website of the US Olympic Committee
• Martina Navratilova at peoples.ru (Russian)