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Lesbian History, Lesbian Celebrities, Lesbian Icons
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Martina
Navratilova |
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Life
Span: Born 18th October 1956, in Prague. |
Star
Sign: Libra |
Famous As: World
Gland Slam Tennis Champion |
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Childhood:
Navratilova was born Martina Subertova, but her name changed
when her mother remarried, to Miroslav Navrátil
in 1959. Martina was coached from the age of about 3 by
her step father.
She showed astounding talent from an early age, and soon
began competing in national junior championships in Czechoslavakia.
In 1972, at just 15, she won the national tennis championship.
Career:
In 1973, after she turned 16, Martina was able to play
in professional tournaments. The first win came in 1974
at the women's singles tournament in Orlando, Florida.
Her first Grand Slam tournaments came in 1975, the Australian
and French Open championships. She came through both as
a runner up to Evonne Goolagong and Chris Evert respectively.
Evert was to become her great challenge and rival of the
seventies, after she lost to her in the semi-finals of
the US Open that same year.
While playing in the US Open, she declared her intent
to defect from Czechoslovakia (then part of the Soviet
Union) and received her US Green Card.
Her many Gland Slam titles started in the latter years
of the seventies, beginning with Wimbledon in 1978. She
was to go on to win at Wimbledon a further 8 times in
her career - a record that remains unbeaten.
Her other Grand Slams comprised of 4 US Open titles, 3
Australian Open titles and 2 at the French Open. 18 in
total, including a record of 6 consecutive Grand Slam
wins.
In 1981, Navratilova became a US citizen, and represented
it (instead of Czechoslovakia) when she played around
the world from that point on.
She narrowly missed out on achieving all four Grand Slam
single titles in the same year, in 1984, when she was
beaten in the Australian Open by Helena Sukova.
Her long professional partnership with Pam Shriver in
the doubles competitions won them a record breaking string
of titles - 109 straight wins between 1983 and 1985, ranking
Navratilova as No. 1 doubles player in the world for three
years.
Her
greatest record came as she won the women's singles, women's
doubles and mixed doubles titles at the US Open - only
the third player in history to win all three at the same
Grand Slam event.
Aside from tennis, Martina is something of an activist,
involved with animal cruelty, children's charities and
gay rights. She is also a strong advocate of vegetarianism,
appearing in advertisements for PETA.
Friends & Relationships:
Navratilova came out in 1981 - among the first world famous
sports professionals to do so. Her first openly lesbian
relationship in the public eye was with Rita Mae Brown,
an american author and screenwriter.
Navratilova later found herself embroiled in a serious
legal battle, after her split with long term partner Judy
Nelson (also an author, and married with two sons) in
1991. The press covered the case in great detail, and
Nelson went on to write two books about the affair; 'Love
Match: Nelson vs. Navratilova' and 'Choices: My Journey
After Leaving my Husband for Martina and a Lesbian Life'.
Greatest Achievements:
Many would say her entire career has been one long string
of record-breaking achievements, too numerous to list
completely here. But she has received many honours since
officially retiring from the women's singles tour in 1994,
including her induction into the tennis hall of fame in
2000, and the unveiling of her likeness in Prague's waxwork
museum.
And she is still playing. In 2003, she won the mixed doubles
with Leander Paes, at Wimbledon. Thus she is also now,
at 46, the oldest person ever to win a Grand Slam title.
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