Martina Navratilova was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on October 18, 1956. She is known to be the former World No. 1 player. She is considered the number 2 greatest player, after Stefi Graf, in the history of tennis. The title is written by Steve Flink in his book The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century. She is also the one of the greatest player from 1965 to 2005 based on the Tennis magazine.
Martina won at least 18 Grand Slams under the singles title and 31 championship women’s doubles titles. She as well earned 10 Grand Slam titles under the mixed doubles. Along with Maureen Connolly Brinker and Margaret Court, Martina share a similar record of gaining 6 Grand Slam singles titles. She is among the three women players who were successful in the Grand Slam boxed set which include women singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. She leads the open era record of 167 singles titles and 177 doubles titles. Fans and colleagues respected Navratilova when she won at least 74 consecutive matches which were considered one of the 6 longest winning streaks since women’s tennis became popular.
| Born | 18 Oct 1956 |
| Nationality |
United States
|
Navratilova reached the finals of the Wimbledon singles 12 times and for nine consecutive years from 1982 to 1990. She won the Wimbledon championship title for nine times as well.
The Czechoslovakian player lost her Czech citizenship when she went to the United States in 1975. But she finally became a U.S. citizen in 1981 when she was 18. It was only in January 9, 2008 when she restored her Czech citizenship and has no intention of losing her U.S citizenship whatsoever. She claimed that being a formal Czechoslovakian recently is not politically motivated.
Martina is also a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy and appeared in a television series entitled “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!”
Recently, Navratilova was named as one of Time Magazine’s “30 Legends of Women’s Tennis: Past, Present, and Future.” Though retired, Navratilova was seen going against Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport at the Wimbledon Ladies’ Invitation Doubles together with her partner Jana Novotna.
