Early years
The most dominant female tennis player of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Martina Navratilova was born Martina Subertova on October 18, 1956 in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now known as the Czech Republic). Her parents divorced when she was 3, and Navratilova and her mother, Jana, moved from a ski lodge in the Giant Mountains for a new life near Prague. As a result, Navratilova never became close to her father, Miroslav Suberth, a complex man who suffered from depression and then committed suicide after the end of his second marriage.
In 1962, Navratilova's mother married a man named Mirek Navratil. Navratilova eventually took her stepfather's last name, tweaking it slightly by adding the feminine "ovum" at the end. Navratilova and her new father became close, and Mirek became her first tennis coach.
The game was definitely in Navratilova's blood. Her grandmother was an international player who upset the mother of Vera Sukova, a 1962 Wimbledon finalist, in the national tournament. Navratilova's own tennis instincts were combined with a passion for improvement. At age 4, she was hitting tennis balls against a cement wall. By age 7, she was playing regularly, working with Mirek and spending hours on the court every day working on her hitting and footwork.
At the age of 9, Navratilova began taking lessons from Czech champion George Parma, who further improved the young player’s game. At the age of 15 she won the Czech national championship. In 1973, at age 16, she turned professional and began competing in the United States.
How “The Last Miss USSR” Yulia Lemigova became the husband of a famous tennis player
Representatives of the press assigned the title “Last Miss USSR” , although in fact this is not the case. At the competition in 1990, she took second place. But it was Yulia who went to Las Vegas a year later, where she represented the country at international competitions.
Then Lemigova became third among 73 contenders for the Miss Universe title. It seemed that interest in the woman’s personal life began to fade, but she met the famous tennis player Martina Navratilova . At the end of 2014, the couple got married. About this and other events from Julia’s life in the material below...
Additions, expansions Julia Lemigova (@julialemigova) 17 Lips 2014 r. about 1:15 PDT
After success in beauty pageants, Lemigova moved to Paris, where she began working as a model. In 1997, she began an affair with the world famous banker Edouard Stern , heir to a famous dynasty and personal friend of Nicolas Sarkozy.
These relationships can safely be called tragic. Julia gave birth to her beloved son, but the boy passed away under strange circumstances at the age of 5 months. A few years later, Stern himself was found lifeless.
Additions, expansions Julia Lemigova (@julialemigova) 23 Tra 2014 r. about 3:44 PDT
Edward was wearing a pink latex suit. At first, Lemigova was blamed for the incident, but then it turned out that during erotic games, the man had been dealt with by his mistress, whom he had previously refused to marry.
Additions, expansions Julia Lemigova (@julialemigova) 7 Gr 2013 r. about 8:17 PST
Julia met her future wife Martina in the early 2000s. At that time, the model often attended various social events. Navratilova also came to one of these meetings. Lemigova was far from sports in general and tennis in particular, but the name of the multiple winner of Grand Slam tournaments was familiar to her.
The women chatted all evening, but there was no talk of any relationship. Moreover, Julia later said that before she left for Europe, she had never heard of same-sex love and had never imagined herself in such a role.
When Martina and Julia met the next time, the latter already had two daughters after unsuccessful romances with different men. Lemigova still does not talk about the fathers of Victoria and Emma
Additions, expansions Julia Lemigova (@julialemigova) 30 Lis 2013 r. about 1:43 PST
“I introduced Martina to my daughters. We had lunch together, and I realized that I wanted to meet her again,” recalls Yulia. The woman insists that at first her relationship with Navratilova was exclusively platonic: “She played tennis with the girls, we had fun together.”
Lemigova flatly refuses to say whether she had same-sex relationships before Martina. We can safely say that initially these feelings did not create any problems. The women were happy, but Julia’s daughters didn’t ask questions because they didn’t understand anything.
But over time, the eldest began to be teased at school. Then Julia had to have a serious talk with the kids. After a long conversation, everyone agreed that they wanted Marti (as the girls called Navratilova) to live with them.
5 years passed, the couple began to spend more and more time at Martina’s mansion in Florida. Only in 2014, after one of the US Open tennis matches, Navratilova proposed to Lemigova right at the stadium. In December of the same year, the couple got married in New York .
They wanted to celebrate in Florida, but then local laws prohibited such marriages . The women decided not to wait for amendments, so they went to another state.
Now the couple lives most of the time in Florida. True, Lemigova regularly flies to Paris, where she has her own business related to cosmetics.
Additions, expansions Julia Lemigova (@julialemigova) Cher 28, 2020 about 9:55 PDT
It is interesting that Martina and Yulia communicate with each other in English, although they tried to start a tradition of conversations in Russian and Czech. But Julia’s daughters speak French more often (their Parisian education had an effect), although they communicate with their mother in Russian. This is a family of polyglots.
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Professional Success
Navratilova knew that staying in her home country could limit her chances on the professional circuit. With Czechoslovakia under direct Soviet control, 18-year-old Navratilova advanced to the United States at the 1975 US Open. This decision meant that she would be cut off from her family for many years, but it also catapulted her career to an unprecedented level of success. In 1978, she won her first Grand Slam tournament with a victory over American Chris Evert at Wimbledon.
Navratilova defended her Wimbledon title the following year, again defeating Evert in the final, and then achieved her third Grand Slam victory at the 1981 Australian Open. By the early 1980s, Navratilova was the most dominant player in women's tennis.
In 1982, Navratilova captured both Wimbledon and the French Open, and lost only six matches from 1982 to 1984. In total, she won 18 Grand Slam titles, 31 Women's Grand Slam titles; s doubles championship and 10 Grand Slam tournaments. Her biggest success came at Wimbledon, where she qualified for 12 singles, winning nine titles. Navratilova retired from singles play in 1994, but continued to play doubles matches. In 2003, she won the mixed doubles championship at Wimbledon. Three years later, she repeated the achievement with victory at the US Open.
Coupled with Navratilova's success at trial came her openness about her sexual orientation. “I never thought there was anything strange about being gay,” she wrote in her 1985 autobiography, “Martina.” She proposed to her friend Yulia Lemigova on the big screen at Arthur Ashe Stadium during the 2014 US Open. The couple got married on December 15, 2014 in New York.
Martina Navratilova is an American professional tennis player and former world number one. Born October 18 1956
years in Czechoslovakia. Czech origin.
Every athlete has the most important matches in life, but Martina had no such matches. Or rather, when you win 167 tournaments in your career in singles and 174 in doubles, and in total you win in 1438
(!) fights from
1649
, it is almost impossible to single out the main ones.
Since Wimbledon-1983
and right up to the
1984
, Martina celebrated success in six Grand Slam tournaments, winning 74 matches in a row.
also
won eight doubles titles in 109 matches with Pam Shriver 1983
to July
1985
Her rivals probably cursed the day when Grandma Agnes gave little Martinka, who was fond of alpine skiing, a racket. After all, the very next morning she went to sign up for the tennis section. The training of the future champion, who had a haircut and dressed like a boy, was reminiscent of the training of special forces soldiers: in any weather, she ran along the slopes of the Tatra Mountains with a backpack on her back filled with stones. “You will be first at Wimbledon,” her stepfather and coach Miroslav Navratil told 5-year-old Martina. But even he probably could not imagine that this would happen so soon.
...After only fifteen years, Chris Evert and other competitors will not be able to “easily” reach her balls, sent with crazy strength and apothecary precision. At the same time, she did not at all resemble the masculine Williams sisters. She elegantly acted at the net with a slight movement of her hand, directing the yellow bouncy ball not at all where her opponents expected it. July 10 1978
year, the computer brought her to first place in the world table of ranks.
It was that season that Martina won the first of her nine Wimbledon crowns, six of which came in unprecedented succession.
When officials from the Czech Communist Party took away her $50,000 fee for winning the US Open, handing her two pieces of paper with Franklin's portrait as compensation, she decided to flee the country. September 5 1975
year she asked for political asylum in the homeland of Coca-Cola and Big Mac. And six years later, she defended the colors of the Stars and Stripes at all international competitions.
However, America turned out to be not as free as it seemed. When Martina attached a pink “Ect Up” triangle to her T-shirt, the sign of the Gay and Lesbian Association to Fight AIDS, a huge scandal erupted. And after the interview “I’m a lesbian and proud of it!” she was almost stripped of her citizenship and deported back to Czechoslovakia. "Immoral behavior" became the subject of heated debate. Curses were thrown at her: they called her a “mad sausage,” and sponsoring companies broke all contracts with her. In addition, the court, recognizing Martina and her friend Judy Nelson as “full spouses,” sentenced Navratilova to pay the former “Miss Texas” $5 million and leave 22 cats in her care. After this, Martina began to often appear in bars and at fashionable parties in the company of various companions. And the paparazzi were on duty at Madonna's villa in Bel Air to photograph her with Navratilova.
She returned to the court after a long time. And the fans, who had once teased and shouted nasty things, greeted her standing. In her native Czechoslovakia, during the Fed Cup match, the audience already during the warm-up gave a standing ovation to the owner of all titles in all categories of all Grand Slam tournaments.
And July 7 2003
years, when at the age of 46 (!) years she became the Wimbledon champion for the 20th time paired with Indian Leander Paes, all world sports (and not only sports) news began exclusively with this event. “When people ask me how old I am, I answer: “Take a reference book and look. It's not a secret. True, I myself couldn’t imagine that I would play for so long…” Martina, who threatened to come to this Wimbledon, likes to repeat. However, to the disappointment of her fans and to the delight of her rivals, she changed her mind at the last moment.
11 September 2006
year, the outstanding tennis player ended her career with a victory (God knows how many) at the US Open in mixed doubles.
She was almost 50 years old... “I have more wrinkles than titles. It's time to stop. I dreamed of being the youngest person to win something, not the oldest. You won’t see me on hard, clay or grass anymore,” said the Czech woman with an American passport, who has already changed her mind more than once. allpersons.name ↑ collapse
Last years
In April 2010, Navratilova revealed that she had breast cancer. After six months of treatment, she became cancer-free.
In retirement, Navratilova has not remained completely out of the public eye. In March 2012, she made her debut on Dancing with the Stars. She also continued to remain active. Navratilova still regularly plays tennis and competes in triathlons. She also served as a fitness ambassador for the American Association of Retired Persons.
In 2008, Navratilova announced plans to open an academy for young tennis players in her homeland of the Czech Republic.
Martina Navratilova - how a tennis player lost her homeland and found love
Martina Navratilova
63-year-old Martina Navratilova is a tennis legend and one of the most famous athletes in the history of the Czech Republic. It’s hard to believe, but once upon a time the freedom-loving star was persona non grata in her historical homeland. Martina was born and raised in Prague, and started playing tennis here.
Under the harsh communist regime, it was almost impossible to express one's views openly. That is why in 1981 the athlete decided to change her citizenship and move to the USA. “Back then I couldn’t even imagine that the communist regime would collapse. It seemed to me that this would be forever. I remember my father saying that I had to go and try. He begged me not to return. We talked on the phone, but there were times when I thought we wouldn’t see each other again,” Navratilova admitted in a recent interview.
Flashed and burned: 10 big sports stars who died too early
After escaping from Czechoslovakia, the tennis player was deprived of her citizenship, but this did not break her. Martina continued performing and doing what she loved. She took to the court until 1995, showing good results.
Martina is still considered the most successful tennis player in the Czech Republic
And if Navratilova had no equal in sports for a long time, then in her personal life she was never lucky. Martina could not meet her soulmate for a long time, but one day she met model and former Vice-Miss USSR Yulia Lemigova.
“I had some relationships, but mostly short-term ones. And then I met Yulia in 2008, and now we have been together for almost 12 years. Her daughters came into my life with her. When we met, the girls were little, and now one is 18 years old and the other is 14. At the moment, family is the most important thing for me,” the star emphasized.
Martina and Julia live with their children in the USA
Navratilova and Lemigova legalized their relationship in 2014. At the same time, the star couple rarely publishes photos together, and they almost never go out into the world. According to the athlete, they like to keep their own happiness a secret.
At the same time, Martina has long been open about neither her orientation nor her political and social views. She actively opposes the actions of Donald Trump and is also an activist in the LGBT movement. “Fortunately, I never had to lie or hide. There was a period when I kept my opinion to myself, but it is in the past,” the athlete shared.
In an interview for Karen Shainyan’s YouTube channel, the athlete admitted that she feels like a truly happy person.
Photo: Getty Images
Martina Navratilova was diagnosed with breast cancer
Famous American tennis player Martina Navratilova was diagnosed with breast cancer. The former athlete herself admitted this. In February of this year, Navratilova underwent a routine examination and a mammogram revealed a tumor on the left side of her breast.
In May, she will begin a six-week course of chemotherapy and experts estimate the chances of a positive result to be high.
Navratilova admitted that she burst into tears when the diagnosis was announced. “I felt so confident in my life and then suddenly something that doesn’t depend on you,” the American magazine People quotes her as saying.
Candidate of Medical Sciences Dmitry Polyakov, spoke to the SP correspondent about Navratilova’s possible prospects
“SP”: — Do you think there is a serious threat to the life of the great tennis player?
— To speak on this topic with one hundred percent confidence, you must at least be the athlete’s attending physician. I can only judge by what I see on TV. I saw the filming of a television program with Martina about two weeks ago. I have to say that she looks pretty good for her diagnosis. It seems to me that everything will be fine.
"SP": - Can breast cancer be cured?
- Certainly! If the disease is not in a completely advanced stage, then an operation is performed, the tumor is cut out and the person lives for many more years. Which, by the way, has already been done to the tennis player.
“SP”: — What if, God forbid, metastases occur?
“Then everything is much more complicated.” In this case, the matter will not be limited to just one operation, it will be necessary to carry out at least ten sessions of chemotherapy. And this is a very unpleasant procedure. In addition, it greatly affects a person’s appearance.
"SP": - How?
- Hair falls out, immunity is destroyed, a person becomes more susceptible to infections. But I hope it doesn't come to that...
“SP”: — What is the mortality rate from breast cancer in the world?
— In Russia it’s somewhere around 30−40%. And only because many women turn to doctors too late.
“SP”: — In Europe, as I understand it, the situation is better?
— Yes, there the mortality rate from breast cancer is 10-15%. Doctors have long learned to fight this disease, and the disease is not considered fatal. So I hope that Navratilova will be okay.
Navratilova is a unique tennis player. She won 167 singles tournaments and 177 doubles tournaments, both of which are all-time records for men and women. Navratilova holds records of unbeaten streaks: 74 winning matches in singles, and 109 wins in a row when paired with Pam Shriver.
In 1984, she demonstrated a record performance in the history of tennis - she suffered only one defeat in 86 matches during the season. For fourteen seasons, Martina Navratilova played in the finals of the final tournament of the year among the strongest tennis players in the world. This is also a record achievement.
Martina Navratilova was the first athlete to openly admit her non-traditional sexual orientation. As world number one in the mid-1980s, Navratilova openly demonstrated her relationships with close friends, and the tennis player's team also consisted exclusively of women. In 2009, it was announced that the athlete was engaged to the former Miss USSR and who took 3rd place at the Miss Universe beauty contest in 1991, Yulia Lemigova.
From the "SP" dossier
Navratilova's best results in Grand Slam tournaments.
Australian Open champion (1981, 1983, 1985) in singles.
Wimbledon champion (1978, 1979, 1982-1987, 1990) in singles.
US Open champion (1983, 1984, 1986, 1987) in singles.
French Open champion (1982, 1984) in singles.
1984 Grand Slam winner in doubles (with Pam Shriver).
Winner of the “non-classical” Grand Slam in singles: Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open in 1983 (the Australian Open was held at this time in December) and the French Open in 1984.
Sports officials from Prague took Martina's first prize money of 50 thousand dollars
1. Martina Navratilova was born on October 18, 1956 in a small town on the slopes of the Tatra Mountains. The girl’s parents divorced, and the child was taken in by her grandmother, Agnes Semanski, a famous former Czech tennis player. It was she who gave Martinka her first racket and enrolled her in the tennis section. Martina's first coach was Miroslav Navratilov. A year later, he met his student’s mother, fell in love with her at first sight and proposed marriage. Martina's stepfather not only taught her to play tennis, but also gave her his last name. “In fifteen years you will become first at Wimbledon,” he told five-year-old Martinka...
“If my stepfather received at least a dollar for every minute he spent with me, he would have become a millionaire,” Martina Navratilova once said about the man who made her a tennis player.
2. The first success was not long in coming. At the age of eight, Martina won the official tournament for children under 12 years old. And although big victories and multimillion-dollar fees were still far away, many experts said: “He will go far.” Young Navratilova, moving from one tournament to another, spent several months a year in America. She enjoyed the freedom and meeting new people. Such attributes of capitalist life as McDonald's, credit cards and 24-hour supermarkets have become familiar to Martina. In socialist Czechoslovakia such a thing was not even dreamed of at that time. In order, for example, to go to a particular tournament, a talented athlete had to obtain special permission from workers of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. And when she won the US Open for the first time and received a check for 50 thousand dollars, officials from Prague simply took away this fee: there was no need, they say, for an athlete to rejoice in imperialist money. However, Navratilova still received a bonus from the leadership for the victory over the “enemies of socialism” - $200.
3. After much thought, after consulting with her stepfather, Martina decided to emigrate. They decided not to bother mom for the time being. On September 5, 1975, all US news outlets reported that a tennis player from communist Czechoslovakia had applied to the immigration office in Manhattan to obtain a temporary residence permit. Oddly enough, the Czechoslovak authorities reacted to this quite calmly. At a press conference in New York, Navratilova said: “I want to be free. I would advise anyone who complains about life here to visit some socialist country. Those who come out here to protest are crazy!”
