In the early 1980s, Martina Navratilova dominated the tennis world, some of her records are still unmatched. After her career, she was diagnosed with cancer for the first time in 2010. After half a year she was considered cured, now the disease is back.
Martina Navratilova defied her age on the tennis court and celebrated her last Grand Slam title at the age of almost 50. Now the great fighter in her is challenged again: The longtime number one has cancer again, in the chest and larynx. “This dual disease is serious but still curable,” the 66-year-old was quoted as saying in a statement. “I’m hoping for a happy ending. It’s going to suck for a while, but I’ll fight with everything I have,” said the Czechoslovakian, who became a US citizen in 1981.
For nearly four decades, Navratilova dominated the tennis world. Until a certain Steffi Graf seized the scepter in women’s tennis in the late 1980s, Navratilova was the measure of all things in singles. With 332 weeks at the top of the world rankings, she is still the “eternal” number two – behind Graf (377). Her 167 individual titles on the WTA tour are still unmatched.
Navratilova always wanted everything and achieved impressive things: 18 Grand Slam titles in singles, 31 in doubles and ten in mixed. The last in 2006, just before her 50th birthday. After that it was actually over for the blonde woman with the striking glasses and the irrepressible will, who had already resigned in 1994. After six years she returned, at least in doubles and mixed.
But after the final resignation in 2006 came the setbacks: in 2010 Navratilova was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time. At the time, she said she cried “for about 15 seconds” and then asked her doctor, “Okay, what should we do? What’s the next step?” Half a year later she was considered cured.
This time, Navratilova noticed an enlarged lymph node in her neck during last November’s WTA Finals in Fort Worth, according to her agent Mary Greenham. A subsequent biopsy revealed stage 1 throat cancer. A suspicious lump in her breast was also discovered during testing. This tumor is also in the early stages. Navratilova will begin her treatment in New York this month. She is therefore forced to abandon her plans to commentate on the Australian Open for the Tennis Channel as an on-site expert. But she hopes to be able to connect virtually occasionally. Little will be able to stop her.
