Martina Navratilova: A Tennis Legend
Posted on February 12, 2010
Filed Under Tennis
Martina Navratilova was at one time the number one tennis player worldwide. Ms. Navratilova was born in Czechoslavakia on the 18th day of October, 1956, her first coach was Miroslav Navratil, her stepfather,and she became a United States citizen in 1981. Martina, at the young age of 15 years, was the champion of tennis in the national Czech republic. By 17, she had won her first single championship in the United States, at a match in Orlando, Florida. In 1975, Martina Navratilova turned professional.
In 1975 she played and became a finalist in the Grand Slam singles tournament, although she was beaten by Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the Australian Open and by Chris Evert in the French Open that year. In addition, she lost the US open semi finals in 1975; however, that made her even more determined to obtain her green card. Fortunately, 1978 was a better year and after beating Chris Evert in the Grand Slam singles at Wimbleton, Martina obtained her worldwide championship title.
It was due to Martina’s aggression and supremacy on the Court that the standard for tennis competition grew by leaps and bounds. Because she was slightly overweight early in her career, one of her initial obstacles was getting fit to play the game. Fortunately, a basketball player by the name of Nancy Lieberman encouraged her to attain this goal. She created an intense exercise regime in order to increase her personal fitness. The fact that she began using graphite racquets was probably paramount in her ability to reign supreme as a tennis player.
When she faced off against Evert in 1981 at the Australian Open in the Grand Slam single, she won again. Then she was victorious in the Wimbledon and French Open that following year. She triumphed in all of the Grand Slams except for one in 1983.
She surpassed every other tennis player and obtained the greatest winning percentage of any professional tennis player. In 1984, Martina proved her supremacy by winning the French Open Grand Slam, a great personal victory over her loss there in 1983. Philippe Chatrier, president of the International Tennis Federation, was so impressed with Navratilova’s victory that he dubbed it the Grand Slam. At the height of her career, Martina Navratilova only lost six singles matches in 2 years, i.e., from 1982 – 1984.
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