The former Number One tennis player Martina Navratilova
The former Czechoslovak tennis ace, Martina Navratilova was born on 18th October 1959 in the city of Prague. The left handed player won a total of eighteen Grand Slam singles trophies, thirty one major doubles title from the women’s side as well as a total of ten Grand Slam mixed doubles trophies. She made her way into the grass court Grand Slam singles final on twelve occasions including her five consecutive appearances from 1982 to 1990. The girl earned a total of record nine singles titles at Wimbledon. She along with King grabbed a total of twenty Wimbledon trophies which is an all time record.
Navratilova is one of the only three players from the women’s side to have achieved a career Grand Slam in singles, doubles as well as mixed doubles also known as the Grand Slam "boxed set". She enjoys the Open era record for being the only player to accomplish most singles trophies with a total of one hundred and sixty seven singles and one hundred and seventy seven doubles titles. She also set her name on the pages of history by being the only one to have recorded the lengthiest match winning streak of seventy four matches in a row back in the Open era. Margaret Court, Maureen Connolly as well as Navratilova also hold the record for the most Grand Slam singles victories in a row. Navratilova made her way into a total of eleven Grand Slam singles finals in a row. As far as women’s double is concerned, Navratilova along with her partner Pam Shriver triumphed in a total of 109 matches in a row and succeeded in all four Grand Slam championships back in 1984. They together also levelled Margaret Osborne duPont's and Louise Brough Clapp's record of twenty Grand Slam women's doubles trophies as a pair.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Navratilova started playing tennis at a very small age with her mother as her very first coach. Having practising the game of tennis from such a young age, the tennis sensation from Czechoslovakia won the national tennis championship held in Czechoslovakia back in 1972 at just 15 years of age. The girl made her debut in the US Lawn Tennis Association professional tour when she was sixteen years of age back in 1973 however she did not turn pro prior to 1975. She triumphed in her very first professional singles championship in Orlando, Florida back in 1974 at seventeen years of age.
Navratilova was the runner up at two major singles championships back in 1975. She was knocked down by Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the final match of Australian Open where as Chris Evert defeated her at the French open final.
Martina grabbed her very first Grand Slam trophy at the 1978 Wimbledon Championship. The girl knocked down Evert in the final match and jumped to World Number One ranking for the very first time in her career. The next year, Martina once again defended her title and knocked down Evert for the second consecutive time in the final at the All England Club. She grabbed her third Grand Slam trophy by hammering down Evert in the final match of Australian Open, thus reassured her number one spot.
In 1983, Navratilova managed to win three of the four Grand Slam titles, excluding the French Open championship. The next year, she also succeeded in winning a French Open title thus succeeded in grabbing all four of the Grand Slam trophies.
Moving on the same lines of success, Martina went on to defeat a number of players such as Steffi Graf, Zina Garrison as well as Tatiana Panova. The girl contested in her last career match back in 2006 at the grass court Grand Slam tournament and announced his retirement from the professional tennis back in 2006.
The former World Number One tennis ace Billie Jean King righty said about Martina Navratilova after her retirement in 2006 that, "She's the best singles, doubles and mixed doubles player of all times”.
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