Born on October 18, 1956, near Prague, Czechoslovakia, Martina Navratilova grew up in a tennis-playing family╤her grandmother had ranked #2 in the country before World War II, and both her stepfather and her mother served as tennis administrators for the government. At eight years of age, she played in her first tournament and, despite comments that she was too small to compete, she reached the semi-finals in the 12-and-under category. By age 14, she had won her first national title in the 14-and-under age division. Within two years, she had won three national championships and the national junior title to become the number one women╒s player in the country.
In 1973 she participated in an eight-week winter tournament sponsored by the United States Tennis Association. She played against Chris Evert for the first time (and lost), in Akron, Ohio, but did well enough in the tournament to qualify for the draws of major events. In 1974 she won her first Virginia Slims tournament as well as Rookie of the Year honors from Tennis Magazine. In 1975 she led the Czechoslovakian team to its first Federation Cup.
Facing increasing interference on the part of Czechoslovakian tennis officials who wished to control her activities and playing decisions, she defected from Czechoslovakia on September 7, 1975. She won her first Wimbledon singles title in 1978. Afterwards she was recognized as one of the best serve and volley grass court players ever: she won Wimbledon a record nine times (Helen Wills Moody╒s eight Wimbledon victories had stood as a record since 1938).
She was at the top of her game in the 1980s. She earned 15 Grand Slam singles titles and 25 Grand Slam doubles titles. In 1983 she posted 86 match wins and a single loss and took 16 titles. She completed a singles, non-calendar year Grand Slam sweep at the 1984 French Open during a run of six consecutive Grand Slam victories. Between 1983 and 1985 she set a record 109-match doubles win-streak with partner Pam Shriver, including eight Grand Slam titles in a row. In 1984 she had the longest consecutive streak of singles victories (74 matches). She won a rare Triple Crown in 1987 at the U.S. Open, taking the mixed doubles (with Emilio Sanchez) and the women╒s doubles (with Pam Shriver), as well as the women╒s singles titles.
In a professional career spanning more than twenty years, she exhibited extraordinary endurance at the highest level of performance: she played more than 1,600 career matches, including more singles matches than any other player, male or female. She held records for most matches won, most tournament titles, and most doubles titles. She finished the year as the #1 woman seven times between 1978 and 1992. She was ranked in the top five for nineteen years in a row. In her last appearance at Wimbledon in 1994, she reached the finals again but lost to rising star Conchita Martinez.
The sports community recognized her contributions with honors such as Female Athlete of the Decade (the 1980s) by the National Sports Review, United Press International, and the Associated Press. She also was awarded the Women╒s Tennis Association Player of the Year a record seven times.
In her personal life, she was one of the first sports superstars to live a publicly gay lifestyle. In the early 1990s she became increasingly vocal in the gay-rights movement, speaking at the April 1993 gay rights rally in Washington, D.C., joining the ACLU in a lawsuit against antigay legislation in Colorado, and endorsing fund-raising efforts by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
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