20. 10. 2023 21:28:28.705386
Facebook / Město Řevnice
October 18, 1956 – Martina Navratilova, the woman whose unparalleled tennis career extended four decades from 1973 to 2006 is born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The left-hander re-wrote the record books in tennis, especially at Wimbledon where she won an unprecedented nine women’s singles titles (1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990) and tied Billie Jean King’s record of 20 overall titles when she won the mixed doubles title with Leander Paes in 2003. At the U.S. Open, she won four singles titles (1983, 1984, 1986 and 1987) and after losing in the women’s singles semifinals to Chris Evert in 1975, announced her defection to the United States. In 2006, she finally bid adieu to competitive tennis, six weeks shy of her 50th birthday, winning the U.S. mixed doubles title with Bob Bryan for her 59th career major. She won the Australian singles title three times (1981, 1983 and 1985) and two French singles titles (1982 and 1984). Her 1984 French singles title gave her a fourth consecutive major singles championship – a non-calendar year Grand Slam – becoming only the third woman to ever hold all four majors at the same time (joining calendar year Slammers Margaret Court and Maureen Connolly). She won an incredible 167 singles titles – an all-time record among men and women – and 177 doubles titles (also an all-time record among mortals) and ranked as the No. 1 player in the world for 332 weeks.
