MARTINA NAVRATILOVA Biography - Famous Sports men and women

 
 

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MARTINA NAVRATILOVA

Name: Martina Navratilova                                                           
Born: 18 October 1956 Prague, Czechoslovakia                                       
                                                                                   
Martina Navratilova (born October 18, 1956, in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a         
former World No. 1 woman tennis player. Billie Jean King said about Navratilova     
in 2006, "She's the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's       
ever lived." Tennis writer Steve Flink, in his book The Greatest Tennis             
Matches of the Twentieth Century, named her as the second best female player of     
the 20th century, directly behind Steffi Graf. Tennis magazine has selected         
her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005[3] and     
ESPN.com ranks her as 19th on the list of the 20th century's hundred greatest       
athletes. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam                       
women's doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles       
titles. She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including 9               
consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the women's singles title at     
Wimbledon a record 9 times. She and King each won 20 Wimbledon titles, an all-time 
record. Navratilova is one of just three women to have accomplished a career       
Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles (called the Grand Slam   
"boxed set"). She holds the open era record for most singles and doubles           
tournament wins (167 and 177 titles respectively). She also recorded the longest   
winning streak in tennis history (74 matches in a row) and three of the six         
longest winning streaks in women's tennis history. Navratilova, Margaret Court,     
and Maureen Connolly Brinker share the record for the most consecutive Grand       
Slam singles titles (six). Navratilova reached 11 consecutive Grand Slam singles   
finals, second all-time to Steffi Graf's 13. In women's doubles, Navratilova and   
Pam Shriver won 109 consecutive matches and won all four Grand Slam titles in       
1984. They also tied Louise Brough Clapp's and Margaret Osborne duPont's record     
of 20 Grand Slam women's doubles titles as a team.                                 
                                                                                   
Originally from the former Czechoslovakia, she defected to the United States in     
1975 at the age of 18 and became a U.S. citizen in 1981.