Profile of a Champion: Martina Navratilova
One of the greatest women's tennis champions had to be Martina Navratilova. This amazing woman overcame adversity, pressure and heartache to rise to the top of her game and become the greatest tennis player of her time. It took her a long time to get the fans on her side when she was playing tennis and she had to overcome the social alienation of being an openly L*****n tennis player. Her battles did not end when she stopped playing tennis because she was diagnosed with breast cancer but managed to beat that into remission as if it were an arch rival on the tennis court. This great athlete's story is one of bravery and triumphing over adversity.
Navratilova was born in Czechoslovakia but migrated to America when she was 18. She started out playing in the US Open in 1975 and slowly but surely she moved on from there to win championships left and right. She has an unbelievable winning record with 168 singles titles, 176 doubles titles, 18 singles Grand Slam wins and 40 doubles. This impressive record has made her one of the all time greats in the game of tennis and she has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame as well. She developed an intense on court rivalry with another all time great tennis player; Chris Evert. These two had many epic battles and helped popularise the sport of women's tennis. Martina's contribution to the sport of tennis is unmatched and her athletic abilities and sportsman spirit will live on forever.
Another interesting aspect of this amazing lady's life is that she is openly L*****n. She came out and told the world that she was a L*****n in 1981. This decision must have been one of the hardest of her life because this was the early 80s and being g*y was not as acceptable as it is today; although it is not that acceptable even today in many parts of the world. She is one of the few professional athletes who have come out and said that they were g*y. The fact that she was able to do so show’s us just how strong a person she is and how much fortitude she has in her life. She is also a leading g*y and L*****n rights activist and she is trying to encourage more people to come out and reveal that they are g*y in order to strengthen their small but close knit community because the more famous people that reveal they are g*y, the more acceptable it will become in society.
Even though she retired from singles tennis in 1994, Martina came back to form and played in a doubles match in 2000. She managed to win the doubles championship at the 2006 US open becoming the oldest tennis player to achieve the fact. She finally announced her retirement after that win and said she is really now done with playing. With her impressive records no one can be quite sure though.
Early this year the great tennis star announced publicly that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Like everything else in her life she decided to be open with people and her fans about it. She underwent surgery and radiation therapy and managed to have the cancer removed from her body. She said she was so overwhelmed with the news of getting cancer that she cried for days, until she decided to see this as just another challenge in her life and treat the cancer as an opponent and beat it for good. Throughout her ordeal and treatment she exercised and played tennis. It was this combination of being physically very fit and maintaining a very active lifestyle that helped the treatment to spread through her body and defeat the cancer. With now having defeated the cancer and getting a second shot at life, she is now going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. It seems there is nothing that can hold this determined and strong woman back.
Martina Navratilova is a testament to achieving greatness and overcoming adversity in life. She is a role model for all of us struggling in our lives and we should all follow her example. Being uprooted and ending up in a strange land at the age of 18, overcoming that to become a tennis legend and then battling cancer and defeating it, all make her one of the most inspiring athletes ever to play the game of tennis.
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