[Rollo]

People forget how flexible the 80s ladies were. It must have been an adjustment for Martina and all the other women too-but by 1984 everyone had made the switch. No one else had to do that. That group literally evolved before out very eyes as the heavy hitters came along.

Is it getting "better" in other areas of the board Sam-or do you still need armor to wade into GM?

[Sam L]

Rollo, you need armour to get in there everytime a Williams wins or loses!

Zummi, 82 French Open, so her 6 slam streak came after the switch. Hmm, interesting. Thanks.

[SM]

Nice pics BTW. Myskina looks like she was smoking the houkah or something in the one pic though

If that's the middle pic u are referring to u can say the same re:Nav!

Anyway Myskina looks really beautiful as per usual , and Martina's looking good for her age....is it me or does Monica look older than usual

OMG - 'Sam Holmes'

[Sam L]

Shouldn't you be in school Stevo?

[SM]

Dont begin Uni till the 3rd March. Hows work today sam? :P

anyway im sick so been home all day, read a book and browsed the net all day...such a bludger!

[Sam L]

You are a bludger! Aren't you playing tennis today?

Work is OK! Just the usual

[SM]

Well, it was raining all day but cleared an hour ago so the air is nice and crisp outside right now. I might go for a bit of tennis just to get some fresh air ... i hate sitting around.

btw - if u wanna come down next weekend we can play tennis on the 4 spare courts and on ther other 16 theres an international juniors event which we can check out.

ok im off track, this was meant to be a martina thread

[Zummi]

CONGRATULATIONS, MARTINA & SVETA!

[ttaM]

Great photo! I've never seen a pic of Sveta before.

Martina looks great as usual.

[BCP]

Hay guys. Just chyecking in to read all the wonderful articles. Thanks for the pics too. Zummi, do you know when Martina is due to play Tracy in that exhibition. If possible, I'd be really interested in the result. Obviously, Martina would be expected to kill Tracy, but given that it's an exhibition, I'm sure she'll give Tracy a few games!

[Zummi]

Hi BCP, it is on March 1.

Martina will just be arriving from Dubai so there will be the jetlag factor. Besides, she usually never does well in exhibitions. I don't know what it is, whether she's too relaxed or it's just a mental thing. She last played against Tracy in Indianapolis in 2000 but those were just doubles matches. They played together in Hartford in 1999, losing to Mary Joe & Gigi in a pro-set match. I expect this one to be quite close.

[Zummi]

Martina (a.k.a. Madam Kumar Kumar in WTA Bombay Dreams ) in Emirati festive attire in Dubai.

With Monica , Jennifer, Amélie & Justine:

[Zummi]

Results from the Volvo Classic in Tampa yesterday.

Womens Singles

Martina Navratilova d. Tracy Austin 6-1 6-3

Mens Singles

Jim Courier d. John McEnroe 7-6 6-3

Mixed Doubles

Navratilova/Courier d. Austin/McEnroe 8-6 (pro-set)


Congratulations, Martina & Jim!

[Zummi]

Some quotes from Saturday's action from Tracy and other anecdotes from the match:

"To go out not having played a singles match and having to face Martina, my legs were like jelly."

Navratilova worked Austin hard on every point. But she also found time to have some fun. After one questionable call, she removed her glasses and said to the official, "Maybe you should try these."

Austin got her share of laughs. When a fan yelled, "Tracy, pick it up a notch," she shouted back, "This is up a notch." Later, after a call went in her favor, Austin told Navratilova she had given the official $20.

"We were both retired legends when I said, 'yes' to this... She's too good. What can I say? She's a Grand Slam champion at 46. That's phenomenal. ... I did my best."

[Zummi]

The Tennis Week Interview: A Quick Set With Martina Navratilova

By Suzi Petkovski
03/04/2003

Martina Hingis may have retired prematurely at 22, but the original Martina is still going strong at 46. The all-time tournament winner (167 singles titles and 168 doubles titles through February) provides short takes on her long career with Tennis Week contributing writer Suzi Petkovski.

Q. Your namesake, Martina Hingis, has called it quits at 22; you did not become a dominant force until after 25.
A. My game was late-blooming. When you’re a serve-and-volleyer, it takes a while to develop that. You can’t be great at 16. There are too many shots to hit. But I just committed myself very late. Who knows what I would have done had I started five years earlier. I really lost about seven years of physical prime time just getting by on my talent and not doing all the work. At the same time, I was on my own. I did the best I could without a coach. Once I got a coach (Renee Richards), it was like, ‘Hey, I can improve!’

Q. You’ve had one of the most successful careers in sport, and you’re still pushing yourself. Where does that drive come from?
A. To be the best that you can be. Not to be the best tennis player, I know I’ll never be the best again. I’m not the best doubles player out there. But I want to be the best that I can be at this time. So I want to do everything possible to get there. It’s just the desire to excel, do well and do your best. I don’t know another option. I just don’t get it when people have the talent and they don’t want to put in the work. I want to know that I did everything I possibly could. I don’t want to have one regret when I’m on my deathbed – at the age of 125!

Q. Are you as competitive now as in your prime?
A. That doesn’t change. You either are competitive or you’re not. Most people are competitive once they get on the court or the field of combat. But not so many people are competitive in their preparation. That’s where I differ from most people. I do everything I possibly can to get ready so that I can be the best at whatever I do. When I play hockey, I take extra skating lessons, lessons for shooting the puck. I don’t want to show up there once a week and think I’m gonna be great. That’s not gonna happen; I can’t be 46 and show up and play great. I like to prepare properly. The competitiveness, or being competitive, is really about knowing you’ve put in the work and it’s time to put it to use.

Q. You once graphically likened your commitment to eggs and bacon: the chicken is involved, the pig is committed.
A. Brutal, but true. Again, when you are committed, you do the preparation. You don’t just do everything once you’re out there playing a match. You have to be willing to do everything to get there. That means eating the right food, working out, getting your sleep. Yeah, you’d rather go to the movies tonight but you need to get your sleep. It’s a total commitment.

Q. You’re looking as fit as ever. How often do you work with your trainer, Giselle Tirado?
A. Every day. I take days off here and there but I have to earn them. It’s not that we do that much, but we do it often. Doesn’t have to take long. Once the tournament rolls around, you just maintain it; the work has been done. But leading up, you do a fair bit of work. We spend as much time stretching as we do working out. As a result of that, I’m more limber now than I’ve ever been.

Q. You didn’t just dominate the game, you took it to a new frontier, with gym work-outs, nutrition, and a full-time coach. You were also the first player to win a Grand Slam (the 1982 French Open) with a large-headed racquet. What’s been your legacy?
A. I wasn’t the first with a full-time coach, but I didn’t have a coach for seven years, so finally I got one (Renee Richards) and then I had one all the time. I think what I changed was the diet and working out off the court, trying to become a better athlete. Not just putting in the time on the court. That’s where I pushed the game forward.

Q. You defected at age 19 and had your sexuality discussed and dissected publicly. Was it important, from both a professional and personal standpoint, to fight those battles of independence early?
A. Sexuality was never a battle, never a problem for me. It was a problem for other people. The difficult part was leaving my country, my family. My mother, sister, grandparents. That’s something that had to be done, unfortunately. That’s the one regret I have – that I had to do it. I don’t regret that I did it, but I’m sad I had to do it. That will toughen you up. Once I did that, everything else was a piece of cake.

Q. You’re a serve-volleyer who grew up on clay, a million-dollar athlete who started out in a communist society, a gay athlete in a game that spruiks its ‘femininity’. Have you always swum against the tide?
A. I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t choose to be born in a communist country. I didn’t choose to be gay. The serve-and-volley, well, being a baseliner wasn’t an option for me. I didn’t like being on the baseline. I wanted to be up at the net where the action is. It just surprises me that more people weren’t that way. Of course, in my time there were many more serve-volleyers. It’s died out since then, but growing up, I saw Billie Jean King play, Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong. Chris Evert was the first true baseliner. After that, there were more baseliners than volleyers.

Q. Chris had so many admirable qualities. But is it disappointing to you that so many girls copied the Evert game, rather than yours?
A. It’s definitely more difficult to play my kind of game. You have to have a lot of ability, quickness, reflexes and perseverance to go after it. Because it’s much more risky, it takes longer to develop and it takes more skill. That’s why you see a whole bunch of baseliners. No serve-and-volley because the returns are so much better now than they were in my day. Playing with wood racquets, you would see more serve-and-volley because you couldn’t hit as good a return. You couldn’t hit the ball that hard or with so much topspin. These racquets really help the baseliners a lot more than they help the serve-and-volley player. I see 12-year-olds who want to come to the net but the 12-year-old across the net is hitting the crap out of it. And they can’t handle it. I have a hard time volleying now; so how are they going to handle it? If you don’t have success at the net, why go there?

Q. You’ve been an inspiration to so many diverse groups – Eastern Bloc athletes, gay people, women, fitness freaks and now ‘mature’ folk. Who inspired you?
A. Rod Laver, Margaret Court and Billie Jean King were the players I really loved watching and wanted to play like the most. But if they didn’t exist, I still would have come to the net. If the volley didn’t exist, I would have invented it. I think the game inspired me more than anything. As Billie Jean said to me, she’s never seen the ball come over the net the same way twice. There’s so much variety to it. I’m still learning and improving some of the technical stuff. The game is such a great challenge. You never stop learning and it’s always fun out there.

Q. You’re a mentor to Daniela Hantuchova. Why did you put up your hand?
A. She asked for me. The pupil chooses the teacher. But I really haven’t done that much with her. I’d like to do more, but she has a very good coach (Nigel Sears) who pretty much has everything under control. She’s asked me a few questions here and there, but I’ve not been as active in that as I would like. A mentor can only do as much as the mentee lets you do. I can’t give you answers if you don’t ask me the questions. But again, I don’t think she needs it.

Q. Are you close with any of your former peers?
A. Sure. Chris and I see each other here and there. Obviously we have a lot of history together but her life is completely separate now from the tennis world. I’m really good friends with Pam Shriver. We’ll stay close for the rest of our lives.

Q. Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, Hana Mandlikova and Steffi Graf deprived you of a few Grand Slam titles, but also helped turn you into the player you became. Are you grateful for those rivals?
A. You’re only as good as the opponents you beat. You could be the greatest player in the world, but if you don’t have great opposition, people aren’t going to see you hit great shots because you’re not forced. In golf, you can play great on your own – it’s you and the golf course. But tennis, you need quality play to make the great get. You need to be pushed. Yeah, I could have won more but I’m glad that I was pushed to the level I was.