Global Sports: Martina The Legendary Tennis Player

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Martina The Legendary Tennis Player

By Robert Smith


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'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.

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 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.




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