Czech-born American tennis legend Martina Navratilova is considered one of the greatest to ever play the game. No male or female player has won more tournaments in the Open Era since it began in 1968. She won 18 major singles titles, 31 major women’s doubles titles, and 10 major mixed doubles titles, for a combined total of 59 major titles. Her major championships rank second all-time, behind Margaret Court’s 64 major titles.
Navratilova was born Martina Šubertová in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The left-handed player first began competing in tennis tournaments when she was eight years old. She ranked number one in Czechoslovakia from 1972 to 1975 and by the age of 15 had won the Czechoslovakia national tennis championship. In 1975, she turned pro and went into exile in the United States because the Czech government was attempting to limit her career. She was stripped of her Czech citizenship, and in 1981 she became a U.S. citizen.
Navratilova went on to dominate tennis in the 1970s and 1980s. She was ranked number one in the world in singles for a total of 332 weeks and for a record 237 weeks in doubles, making her the only player in history to have held the top spot in both disciplines for more than 200 weeks. When she defeated Chris Evert at the 1983 US Open, Navratilova became only the seventh female player in history to earn a Career Grand Slam in singles. In 2006, just one month shy of her 50th birthday, she was still competing actively when she won the mixed doubles championship at the US Open, making her the oldest player in history to win a major title. She retired later that year.
Since then, she’s spent much of her time advocating for a range of causes that benefit animal rights, underprivileged children, and gay rights. She is one of the first openly gay sports figures, and she spoke before the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. She has also spoken out against immigration control and racism in the U.S. In 2000, she was the recipient of the National Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian activist and lobbying group.