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Martina Navratilova: Grand Slam
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Martina Navratilova (September 1956- ) is a former World Number One tennis player. Navratilova played across several “generations” of tennis champions, and still holds records for the most singles titles of any player, the most Wimbledon singles titles (nine), the longest consecutive number of wins (74), the oldest player ever to win a Grand Slam event and the oldest woman ever to win a WTA event.
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Martina Navratilova won 56 Grand Slam tennis championships, including 18 in women's singles and a record nine at Wimbledon. Her rivalry with Chris Evert helped popularize women's tennis. But Navratilova, who defected from Czechoslovakia in the mid-1970s, was just as influential off the court as an icon for female and gay athletes. In 1999, the cable network ESPN placed her 19th on its list of the top athletes of the 20th century, one of only two females in its top 20.
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Martina Navratilova never tires of making history. Yesterday, at the age of 46, she became the oldest ever winner of a grand slam title by taking the mixed doubles crown at the Australian Open with her Indian partner Leander Paes.
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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.
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Navratilova, 48, who began her 30th year playing professional tennis when the Australian Open began on January 17, is one of the greatest athletes in the history of sport. She was ranked #19 on ESPN’s list of the greatest athletes of the century, and she has won 58 Grand Slam titles, including the Wimbledon and Australian Open mixed doubles titles in 2003 at the age of 46. The next year, she returned to singles play at Wimbledon and won her opening round match, becoming the oldest woman in more than 80 years to win a singles match there. She has won 167 tournament titles in singles and 174 in doubles. Navratilova expects to play doubles at all four Grand Slam events in 2005, along with a full schedule of WTA Tour events.
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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.
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