Martina Navratilova: The Life Story Behind Tennis' Greatest Champion

Martina Navratilova is, by the numbers, the most successful tennis player who ever lived. She won eighteen Grand Slam singles titles, thirty-one Grand Slam doubles titles, and ten mixed doubles titles, a total of fifty-nine major championships. She won more singles matches than any other player, male or female, in the open era. She was world number one for more than three hundred weeks. Those numbers are so large that they are hard to take in, and they do not tell the whole story.

The whole story begins in Prague, in a country that no longer exists in the same form, and it includes a decision that changed her life forever. At eighteen, she left her home, her family, and her country, and she asked for political asylum in the United States. She did it because she wanted to be free, and because she wanted to play tennis without fear. That decision cost her a great deal, and it also gave her a life that she could never have had at home.

This is the story of a champion who was also a pioneer, a woman who changed tennis with her fitness, her serve, and her courage at the net, and who later changed the world outside tennis with her honesty about who she was. It is a story about leaving, about winning, about rivalry, and about coming back to fight again, long after the tennis had ended.

A Girl From Prague With a Racket and a Dream

Martina Navratilova was born on 18 October 1956 in Prague, in what was then Czechoslovakia. Her family was close to tennis. Her mother was a gymnast and a tennis player, and her stepfather was a tennis coach. She began to play when she was four years old, hitting a ball against a wall, and she loved it at once. She was a natural athlete, fast, strong, and full of energy, and she played with a joy that people noticed.

She grew up in Revnice, a small town near Prague, and she played on clay courts that were rough and uneven. She learned to move well, to hit the ball hard, and to come to the net, a style that was unusual for a girl at that time. Most girls were taught to stay at the back of the court and to hit the ball safely. Martina was taught to attack, and she liked it. She was left-handed, which gave her an advantage, because her serve went to places that right-handed players did not expect.

As a junior, she was very good. She won the national championship in Czechoslovakia when she was fifteen, and she began to travel to tournaments in other countries. She saw a world that was very different from the one she knew at home. In the West, players had more freedom, more money, and more chances to play. At home, the government controlled who could travel, and when, and for how long. She began to feel that her talent was being held back by the system she lived in.

She was also aware, even as a teenager, that she was different in another way. She was attracted to women, and in Czechoslovakia at that time, that was not something you could speak about openly. She kept it to herself, and she focused on tennis. But the feeling of being different, of having to hide a part of herself, stayed with her. It would take many years before she could speak about it freely, and when she did, it would change her life again.

The Defection at the US Open in 1975

In 1975, when she was eighteen, Navratilova played at the US Open in New York. She reached the semi-finals, and she played well, but the tennis was not the most important thing that happened that week. After the tournament, she made a decision that shocked the world. She asked the United States for political asylum, and she did not go home to Czechoslovakia.

It was a brave and frightening choice. She left her family behind, and she knew that she might not see them for a long time. The Czechoslovak government was angry, and it took away her citizenship. She was now a person without a country, living in a foreign land, with little money and no family close by. She was eighteen years old, and she had to start a new life.

She stayed in the United States, and she began to play tennis as a professional. She had to learn to live alone, to manage her money, and to deal with the pressure of being a defector. The press wrote about her, and some people in Czechoslovakia called her a traitor. Others understood why she had left, and they wished her well. She did not look back. She knew that she had made the right choice, even if it was hard.

In those early years in America, she struggled with her weight, with her fitness, and with her confidence. She ate too much, she did not train as hard as she should, and she lost matches that she should have won. She was talented, but she was not yet a champion. She needed to change her life, and she needed help to do it. That help came in the form of a new coach, a new way of training, and a new belief in herself.

Becoming the Fittest Player in the World

In the late 1970s, Navratilova began to work with a coach named Renee Richards, a former player who understood the game and who believed in her. Richards helped her to see that her body was her greatest asset, and that she needed to take care of it. Navratilova began to train harder, to eat better, and to lose weight. She became fitter, faster, and stronger, and her tennis improved with her body.

She also began to work with Nancy Lieberman, a basketball player who became her trainer and her friend. Lieberman pushed her to train like an athlete, not like a tennis player who only practised tennis. She ran, she lifted weights, and she built a body that could play long matches without getting tired. In an era when most female players did not train in that way, Navratilova was ahead of her time. She changed what it meant to be a female tennis player.

The results came quickly. In 1978, she won her first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, beating Chris Evert in the final. It was a huge win, and it was the start of a rivalry that would become the greatest in women’s tennis. She won Wimbledon again in 1979, and she became world number one. She was no longer a talented defector. She was a champion, and she was the fittest player in the game.

Her style was also new. She served and volleyed, coming to the net after her serve, and she put pressure on her opponents from the first ball. Most women stayed at the back, but Navratilova attacked, and she won points quickly. Her left-handed serve was hard to return, and her volleys were sharp and clean. She played tennis like a man, people said at the time, and they meant it as praise, because she had brought a new level of athleticism to the women’s game.

The Rivalry With Chris Evert

The rivalry between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert is one of the great rivalries in all of sport. They played each other eighty times over fifteen years, from 1973 to 1988, and Navratilova won forty-three of those matches. They met in fourteen Grand Slam finals, and they were friends off the court, even when they were rivals on it. It was a rivalry built on respect, and it made both women better.

Evert was the opposite of Navratilova in many ways. She was American, she was calm, she played from the back of the court, and she was known as the Ice Princess because she never showed emotion. Navratilova was emotional, she was aggressive, and she played at the net. Their matches were a clash of styles, and the crowd loved them. When they played, the whole tennis world watched.

In the early years, Evert won more often. She was steadier, and she made fewer mistakes. But after Navratilova changed her body and her training, the balance shifted. In the 1980s, Navratilova dominated, winning many of their matches, and winning Grand Slam after Grand Slam. She won six Wimbledon titles in a row from 1982 to 1987, a record that has never been matched. She won the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open, and she held all four Grand Slam titles at the same time in 1983 and 1984.

The rivalry was also a friendship. The two women travelled together, they ate together, and they supported each other off the court. They were rivals, but they were not enemies. That friendship is one of the most beautiful parts of their story, and it shows that sport can be competitive and kind at the same time. When Evert retired, Navratilova spoke of her with great respect, and when Navratilova retired, Evert did the same.

The Golden Years and the Records That Followed

The 1980s were the golden years for Navratilova. She won Grand Slam after Grand Slam, and she set records that still stand today. She won 167 singles titles, more than any other player, male or female, in the open era. She won 177 doubles titles, and she was world number one in both singles and doubles at the same time. She won the US Open four times, the Australian Open three times, and the French Open twice, to go with her nine Wimbledon singles titles.

She also won doubles with Pam Shriver, her great partner, and the two women became one of the most successful doubles teams in history. They won twenty Grand Slam doubles titles together, and they were almost unbeatable. Navratilova loved doubles, because it was a team game, and because it let her play at the net, which was her favourite place on the court.

She became a United States citizen in 1981, and she was proud of her new country. She also became open about her sexuality, and she was one of the first famous athletes to say publicly that she was gay. That was a brave thing to do in the 1980s, when many people were afraid to speak about it. She lost sponsors, and she lost fans, but she gained freedom, and she became a role model for many people who were afraid to be themselves.

Her later years on tour were still successful. She won her last Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon in 1990, when she was thirty-three, beating Zina Garrison in the final. She retired from singles in 1994, but she kept playing doubles, and she won more titles. She finally retired from professional tennis in 2006, after winning the mixed doubles title at the US Open, at the age of forty-nine. It was a fitting end to a career that had lasted for more than thirty years.

Cancer, Comebacks, and a Voice That Would Not Quit

After tennis, Navratilova stayed active. She wrote books, she worked as a commentator, she played in senior events, and she spoke about politics and human rights. She was not afraid to say what she thought, and she often made headlines for her views. She also stayed fit, and she kept playing tennis for fun, because the game was still a large part of her life.

In 2010, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she had surgery and treatment. She talked about it in public, and she urged other women to have themselves checked. She recovered, and she returned to her active life. In 2023, she was diagnosed again, this time with throat cancer and breast cancer, and she had treatment once more. She spoke about it with courage, and she said that she would fight it. She recovered again, and she continued to work and to speak.

Her health battles showed the same fighting spirit that she had shown on the court. She did not give up, she did not hide, and she did not let the illness define her. She faced it with the same determination that had made her a champion, and she came through it. That is a part of her story that many people admire, because it shows that her strength was not only physical. It was also in her mind, and in her heart.

Today, she is remembered as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, and as a pioneer in many ways. She changed tennis with her fitness and her style, she changed sport with her honesty, and she changed lives with her courage. She is still a voice in tennis, and she is still a voice for freedom and for human rights. The girl from Prague who left her home at eighteen became a champion, and she became a person who would not be silenced.

Doubles With Pam Shriver and a Second Career

Navratilova’s doubles career is almost as great as her singles career, and it is a large part of why she is regarded as the most successful player in history. She won thirty-one Grand Slam doubles titles, and she won them with different partners, but her most famous partnership was with Pam Shriver, an American player who was tall, strong, and a great volleyer. Together, Navratilova and Shriver won twenty Grand Slam doubles titles, and they were almost unbeatable for many years. They played with a style that was aggressive, they came to the net, and they put pressure on their opponents from the first ball.

Doubles suited Navratilova because it let her play at the net, which was her favourite place, and because it was a team game. She liked having a partner, and she liked the feeling of winning together. She also loved the strategy of doubles, the positioning, the communication, and the trust that a good partnership needs. She and Shriver trusted each other, and they knew where the other would be, and that trust made them great. They were not only partners. They were friends, and they supported each other off the court as well.

She also won mixed doubles titles, playing with different male partners, and she won the mixed doubles title at the US Open in 2006, at the age of forty-nine, in her final professional match. It was a fitting end to a career that had lasted for more than thirty years. She had won Grand Slam titles in singles, in doubles, and in mixed doubles, and she had done it in three different decades. No other player has a record quite like hers, and it is a record that will be hard to break.

Her doubles success also shows that she was a complete player. She could play singles, she could play doubles, and she could play mixed doubles, and she was great at all three. That versatility is rare, and it is a sign of a player who understands the game in all its forms. Young players today often focus only on singles, and they miss the joy of doubles. Navratilova shows them that doubles can be a great career, and that it can be just as rewarding as singles.

Speaking Out and the Cost of Honesty

Navratilova was one of the first famous athletes to say publicly that she was gay, and she did it in the early 1980s, when it was not easy to do so. She lost sponsors, she lost fans, and she was criticised by many people. She did it anyway, because she wanted to live an honest life, and because she did not want to hide who she was. That honesty was brave, and it was important, because it helped many people who were afraid to be themselves. She became a role model for gay people around the world, and she used her fame to speak about human rights.

She also spoke about politics, and she was not afraid to say what she thought, even when it made people angry. She spoke about freedom, about democracy, and about the rights of women and of gay people. She was a defector from a communist country, and she knew what it meant to live without freedom, and she did not want others to live that way. Her voice was heard, and it mattered, because she was not only a tennis player. She was a person who had lived through history, and who had something to say about it.

The cost of her honesty was real. She lost money, she lost sponsors, and she was not always loved in the way that other champions were loved. But she gained something more important: freedom, and the respect of people who admired her courage. She showed that a famous athlete can use their fame for good, and that speaking the truth is worth the price. That is a legacy that matters as much as her tennis, and it is a legacy that will last long after her records are broken.

The Fitness Revolution She Started

Before Navratilova, most female tennis players did not train like athletes. They practised tennis, they played matches, and they went home. They did not lift weights, they did not run long distances, and they did not follow a strict diet. Navratilova changed that, and she changed it because she had to. She was losing matches she should have won, and she knew that her body was the problem. She began to train with Nancy Lieberman, a basketball player, and she ran, she lifted weights, and she built a body that could play long matches without getting tired. It was a new way of preparing, and it worked.

Other players watched her, and they began to copy her. They saw that she was fitter, faster, and stronger, and they realised that they needed to train in the same way if they wanted to beat her. Within a few years, women’s tennis had changed. Players were fitter, they were stronger, and they played at a higher level. That change is Navratilova’s legacy, as much as her titles. She did not only win. She raised the standard for everyone, and she made the game better.

She also changed what people thought a female athlete could look like. She was muscular, she was strong, and she was proud of it. At a time when many people thought women should be delicate, she showed that a woman could be powerful, and that power was beautiful. That message mattered, and it helped young girls to see that strength is not something to be ashamed of. It is something to be proud of, and it is something that can win you Grand Slams. She was a pioneer in fitness, and in how we think about women’s bodies in sport.

A Life in Tennis That Never Really Ended

Even after she stopped playing professionally, Navratilova never left tennis. She played in senior tournaments, she coached, she commentated, and she wrote books about the game. She stayed fit, she stayed involved, and she stayed curious about how tennis was changing. Young players would ask her for advice, and she would give it honestly, telling them what had worked for her and what had not. She was not a person who retired and disappeared. She was a person who kept giving, because tennis had given her so much, and because she wanted to pass it on.

She also became involved in charity work, and she spoke about health, about fitness, and about the importance of staying active as you get older. She practised what she preached, running, playing, and training well into her sixties. That example mattered to many people who thought that sport was only for the young. She showed them that you can stay active, you can stay strong, and you can keep learning, no matter how old you are. Her life after tennis was not a footnote. It was a continuation of the same story: a woman who would not stop, and who would not be held back.

My Take:

I think Martina Navratilova is one of the most important athletes who ever lived, and I say that not only because of her tennis. Her tennis was extraordinary, and the numbers are almost impossible to believe. Eighteen Grand Slam singles titles, thirty-one doubles titles, ten mixed doubles titles, fifty-nine in total, and more singles titles than anyone else in the open era. Those numbers alone would make her a legend. But her story is more than numbers. It is a story about freedom, about courage, and about a woman who refused to live a life that was not her own.

What moves me most is the decision she made in 1975. She was eighteen years old, she was in New York, and she asked for political asylum. She left her family, she left her country, and she knew that she might never go back. I try to imagine what that felt like. She was a teenager, far from home, with little money, and she had to start a new life in a foreign country. That takes a kind of bravery that is hard to describe. She did it because she wanted to be free, and because she wanted to play tennis without fear. I think that decision is the heart of her story, and it is the reason I admire her so much.

I also admire the way she changed her body and her game. In the late 1970s, she was not fit enough, and she was losing matches she should have won. She could have blamed her coaches, or her luck, or the system. Instead, she changed herself. She trained harder, she ate better, and she became the fittest player in the world. That change was not easy, and it took years, but it made her a champion. I think that is a lesson for anyone who feels stuck. You cannot always change the world around you, but you can change yourself, and that change can change everything.

Her rivalry with Chris Evert is, for me, one of the most beautiful stories in sport. They played each other eighty times, they met in fourteen Grand Slam finals, and they were friends off the court. I love that they could compete so hard and still respect each other. In a world where rivalry often becomes hatred, their rivalry became friendship. It made both of them better, and it made tennis better. I think young players should look at their example, and learn that you can want to beat someone and still love them as a person.

The six Wimbledon titles in a row from 1982 to 1987 are a record that I find almost impossible to believe. To win Wimbledon once is a great achievement. To win it six times in a row is something else entirely. It means that for six years, no one could beat her on grass, and that she was the best player in the world on the most famous court in the world. I think about the pressure of that, the expectation, and the way she handled it year after year. That is not only talent. That is a mind that does not break, and a body that does not fail.

I also think her honesty about her sexuality was a brave and important act. In the 1980s, it was not easy for a famous athlete to say that she was gay. She lost sponsors, and she lost fans, and she was criticised by many people. But she did it anyway, because she wanted to live an honest life. That honesty helped many people who were afraid to be themselves, and it made the world a little bit freer. I think that is a legacy that matters as much as her tennis, and it is a legacy that will last long after the records are broken.

Her health battles in later life make me admire her even more. She had breast cancer in 2010, and she had throat cancer and breast cancer in 2023, and she faced both with courage. She was open about it, and she asked other women to get themselves checked. She did not hide, and she did not give up. That is the same fighting spirit she showed on the court, and it is the spirit that has carried her through her whole life. I think it is a reminder that strength is not only about the body. It is about the mind, and about the will to keep going when life is hard.

If I have to be honest, I sometimes wonder whether she was appreciated enough when she was playing. She was a champion, but she was also a defector, and a gay woman, and a person who spoke her mind, and some people did not like that. She was not always loved in the way that other champions were loved. I think that is unfair, and I think history has been kinder to her than her own time was. Today, we can see her clearly, as a great player and as a brave person, and I hope she knows that.

What I learn from her is that freedom is worth fighting for. She left her home for freedom, she spoke the truth for freedom, and she fought cancer for her life. Each time, she chose to fight rather than to hide. That is a lesson that applies to everyone, not only to athletes. We all have moments when we must choose between safety and freedom, between silence and truth, between giving up and fighting on. Navratilova chose freedom, truth, and fight, every time, and that is why her story stays with me.

I also learn from her that it is never too late to change. She changed her body in her twenties, she changed her life at eighteen, and she kept changing and growing throughout her career. She did not accept the life she was given. She made a new life, and she made it better. That is a hopeful message, and it is one I would tell to anyone who feels trapped by their circumstances. You can change, and you can start again, even if it is hard, even if it is frightening.

In the end, I think Martina Navratilova’s story is a story about a woman who would not be held back. She would not be held back by a government, by a system, by fear, or by illness. She played tennis with power and with joy, she lived her life with honesty, and she fought for what she believed in. She won fifty-nine Grand Slam titles, and she won something even more important: the right to be herself. I admire her, and I think her story will be told for a very long time.

I also think about her work as a commentator and as a writer after tennis. She did not disappear when she retired. She stayed in the game, she spoke about it, she wrote about it, and she helped young players to understand it. She was a voice that people trusted, because she had lived the game, and because she spoke honestly. I think that is a valuable part of her legacy, because it shows that a career does not have to end when you stop playing. You can keep giving to the game, in a new way, and you can keep helping others.

Her health battles are another part I think about with respect. She had breast cancer in 2010, and she had throat cancer and breast cancer in 2023, and she faced both with courage. She spoke about it openly, and she encouraged other women to get checked. She did not hide, and she did not give up. That is the same fighting spirit she showed on the court, and it is the spirit that has carried her through her whole life. I think it is a reminder that strength is not only about the body. It is about the mind, and about the will to keep going when life is hard.

What I learn from her is that it is never too late to be yourself. She left her home at eighteen, she spoke the truth in her twenties, and she kept fighting for what she believed in throughout her life. She did not accept the life she was given. She made a new life, and she made it better. That is a hopeful message, and it is one I would tell to anyone who feels trapped by their circumstances. You can change, and you can start again, even if it is hard, even if it is frightening, and even if it costs you something.

In the end, I think Martina Navratilova’s story is a story about a woman who would not be held back by a government, by fear, or by illness. She played tennis with power and with joy, she lived her life with honesty, and she fought for what she believed in. She won fifty-nine Grand Slam titles, and she won something even more important: the right to be herself. I admire her, and I think her story will be told for a very long time.

I also think about the way she changed tennis with her serve and volley game. Most women stayed at the back of the court, but she came to the net, and she put pressure on her opponents from the first ball. That style was aggressive, and it was exciting, and it made her matches different from everyone else’s. She played tennis like a man, people said at the time, and they meant it as praise, because she had brought a new level of athleticism to the women’s game. I think that style is worth remembering, because it shows that there is more than one way to play, and that attacking tennis can be beautiful.

What I take from her, finally, is a simple idea: do not let anyone else decide who you are. She was told to stay in Czechoslovakia, she was told to hide who she was, and she was told to play tennis in a certain way. She did none of those things. She left, she spoke the truth, and she played her own game, and she became the most successful player in history. That is a powerful example, and it is one I will remember. Be yourself, fight for your freedom, and do not let the world make you smaller than you are.

I also think about how she stayed in tennis after retiring, playing senior events, commentating, and coaching, and how that shows a love for the game that goes beyond winning. She did not need tennis after she retired. She had won everything, and she could have walked away. She stayed because she loved it, and because she wanted to help others. That is a kind of loyalty that I admire, and it is a reminder that a career does not have to end when you stop competing. You can keep giving, in a new way, and you can keep learning.

Another thought that stays with me is her example for older athletes. She played at forty-nine, she stayed fit into her sixties, and she showed that age does not have to mean stopping. She trained, she ate well, and she took care of her body, and she proved that an athlete can have a long life in sport. I think about people who are told they are too old to try something new, and I wish they could see her. She was still learning, still playing, and still fighting, long after most players had retired. That is inspiring, and it is a message that applies far beyond tennis.

I also keep returning to the sheer scale of her numbers, because they are hard to believe even when you write them down. One hundred and sixty-seven singles titles, one hundred and seventy-seven doubles titles, fifty-nine Grand Slam titles in total, and more than three hundred weeks at world number one. Those are not numbers that a player reaches by luck, or by one good year. They are numbers that come from decades of work, from playing through pain, from travelling the world, and from winning again and again, year after year, when other players had retired. I think about how much discipline that takes, how many early mornings, how many practice sessions, how many matches played when she was tired or hurt, and I am amazed. She did not just win. She won more than anyone else, for longer than anyone else, and she did it in a sport that is famously hard on the body.

Her friendship with Chris Evert is the last thing I want to mention, because it is the part of her story that makes me happiest. They played eighty times, they met in fourteen Grand Slam finals, and they became close friends. In a world where rivalry often becomes hatred, their rivalry became a friendship, and that friendship made both of them better players and better people. I think young athletes should look at their example and learn from it. You can want to beat someone with all your heart, and you can still respect them, like them, and support them off the court. That is a rare and beautiful thing, and Navratilova and Evert showed the world how it is done.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Martina Navratilova leave Czechoslovakia in 1975?

She asked for political asylum in the United States after the US Open in 1975, because she wanted freedom to play tennis and to live without government control. She left her family behind and became a defector at eighteen.

How many Grand Slam singles titles did Martina Navratilova win?

She won eighteen Grand Slam singles titles, including nine at Wimbledon. She also won thirty-one Grand Slam doubles titles and ten mixed doubles titles, for a total of fifty-nine major championships.

How many times did Martina Navratilova play Chris Evert?

They played each other eighty times between 1973 and 1988, and Navratilova won forty-three of those matches. They met in fourteen Grand Slam finals and became close friends off the court.

When did Martina Navratilova become a United States citizen?

She became a United States citizen in 1981, six years after she defected. She had been living and playing in America since 1975.

Did Martina Navratilova have cancer?

Yes, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 and recovered after treatment. In 2023 she was diagnosed with throat cancer and breast cancer, and she recovered again after treatment.

What made Martina Navratilova’s playing style special?

She was a left-handed serve-and-volley player who came to the net often, and she was one of the fittest players in the game. Her training, speed, and attacking style changed women’s tennis.