Martina Navratilova shares her experience of climbing Africa’s highest mountain
Former tennis player Martina Navratilova was released from the hospital in Nairobi on Sunday after recovering from a high altitude pulmonary oedema she developed during her aborted charity ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro.
The fifty four years old Martina, was leading a team of twenty seven climbers to raise funds for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation charity, when the left handed tennis ace fell ill on the fourth day of the climb up Kilimanjaro
which is the highest mountain in Africa.
"I am feeling much better and really pleased to be going home. I would like to thank all the staff at Nairobi Hospital, who were wonderful, and really took care of me. The care I received during my three days in hospital was excellent,"
she reflected on Sunday.
The eighteen time Grand Slam singles winner, commented on the rest of the climbers after being discharged from the hospital when she said that she was happy to hear the news that eighteen of the twenty seven climbers reached the
summit. They included Olympic badminton player Gail Emms of Great Britain as well as Paralympic cyclist Michael Teuber from Germany.
"It is great to know that the team have all returned safely from the mountain. I was so pleased to hear that so many of them made it to the summit despite the weather conditions," she added.
The Florida resident, in her recent interview also spoke at length about her agonising ordeal. The 1.73 meter tall Martina, who made her debut on the WTA tour back in 1975, said she had an idea by Wednesday that she would not be
able to reach the top of the 19,340 feet tall mountain in Tanzania.
While talking about her condition, she said that she couldn’t breathe and could not get a full breath of air. However, she feels sad and disappointed that she couldn’t make.
Martina, who announced her retirement from professional tennis four years ago in 2006, reached almost 14,800 feet when the team doctor told her she had to descend before her condition got worse.
The former Czech American tennis player, who battled breast cancer earlier in 2010, said that quitting was not a word in her dictionary, however when the doctor said that she can’t climb up any more, the left hander felt extremely
disappointed and frustrated. At that point, further pushing on would have been dangerous therefore, she decided to come back.
The Czech-born, who won a total of eighteen single Grand Slam titles, thirty one doubles and ten mixed doubles crowns in her career, kept a diary during her four-day charity climb. The nine time grass court Grand Slam winner has
so far helped raise £50,000 and added that reaching the summit may have generated more publicity without any question.
While commenting on her breast cancer, the Prague born, who owns the open era mark for the most singles and doubles crowns on the tour, said she had been in superb health since mid-August and that her fight with cancer earlier
in 2010 had nothing to do with her medical woes.
Martina is a permanent member of the Laureus World Sports Academy and also works as the Health and Fitness Ambassador for AARP, which was established to help its members lead healthy lives.
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