Martina Navratilova is an ex-World number 1
female Tennis Player. Born on October 18, 1956 in
Czechoslovakia, she became the citizen of America in
1981.Her stepfather Miroslav Navratil was her first
coach. Martina won the Czech republic national
tennis championship at the age of fifteen. At the
age of seventeen, she got her very first
professional singles title when she played the match
in Orlando, Florida. She became a professional
tennis player in 1975.
In 1975's Grand Slam singles tournaments, she was
one of the finalist in both the Australian Open and
French Open, but she lost in both the finals to
Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Chris Evert,
respectively. The same year, she even lost in the
semi finals of the US Open the same year after which
she made her mind to get the green card of United
States. In 1978, Navratilova got her first victory
in the Grand Slam singles at Wimbledon and at the
same she acquired the world number 1 rank after
defeating Chris Evert.
Navratilova was a women of great power and
aggression because of which she raised the level of
competition. Initially she was on the heavier side
and she had to struggle a lot to get into shape for
tennis. In this regard Nancy Lieberman, a basketball
player, helped her. She underwent severe levels of
fitness and exercising which finally got her into
shape. She even learned the technique to use
graphite racquets, which made her one of the most
dominant tennis player.
She again beat Evert in the 1981 Grand Slam singles,
in Australia Open. The next year she won the French
and Wimbledon Open. In 1983, she won in three out of
four Grand Slam events. She had scored the best
ever-professional winning percentage as a tennis
player. She retaliated back by winning the French
Open Grand Slam of the year 1984, which she had lost
in 1983. This superb victory was called the Grand
Slam by the president of the International Tennis
Federation, Philippe Chatrier. From 1982-1984, she
lost only six of the singles matches.
Navratilova won women's doubles titles in all the
four Grand Slams of 1984. From 1985-1987, she won
six out of eleven women's singles final Grand Slam
tournaments. Steffi Graff started to play in 1987
and from the beginning she gave a tough competition
to Martina Navratilova. Graff defeated her in her
first Grand slam in the finals of French Open.
Navratilova gained back her title by defeating Graff
in the 1987 Wimbledon Open. Navratilova's won her
final Grand Slam singles in 1990. Her name was
included in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in
the year 2000.
The left-handed athlete was known to be the greatest
tennis player, be it singles, doubles or mixed
doubles. She was the second best female athlete of
the twentieth century according to Steve Flink. From
1965 to 2005, she was named as the greatest female
tennis player by Tennis magazine. In her career, she
won a total of thirty one Grand Slam women's doubles
titles, which is also a world record, eighteen Grand
Slam singles titles, ten Grand Slam mixed doubles
titles and nine Wimbledon women's singles titles.
She has won one hundred and sixty seven single
tournaments and one hundred and seventy seven
doubles tournaments, which is an open era record.
Navratilova won seventy-four matches consecutively,
which is the third longest winning streak in women's
tennis history. Along with Margaret Smith Court and
Maureen Connolly Brinker, Navratilova holds the
record for the maximum consecutive Grand Slam
singles tournament championships.
