When Martina Navratilova first ended her career
On November 15, 1994, the "grande dame" of tennis, Martina Navratilova , played her supposedly last tennis match at the age of 38.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit: Nov 15, 2020, 03:08 pm
It was late in New York, the evening of November 15, 1994 was drawing to a close. Martina Navratilova would have loved to disappear into the night to end this memorable day in peace, but these annoying reporters just wouldn't let her go. Too many questions were still open, too few anecdotes were told - and who knew how things would go on without the great "old lady" of tennis?
Shortly before, at the age of 38, Navratilova had played her last individual match on the professional tour, that's what she assumed, or at least that's what the observers assumed. 17,131 spectators, including her parents, watched the game against Gabriela Sabatini in Madison Square Garden, watched Navratilova as she constantly stormed the net and celebrated her despite the 4-6, 2-6 defeat.
Someone wanted to know whether she had dreamed of saying goodbye as a young girl in Czechoslovakia. "No," replied Navratilova, "at that time I didn't know that Madison Square Garden even existed." She didn't get to know the legendary arena at Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan until later, when it began to turn the tennis world upside down.
Martina Navratilova revolutionizes tennis
"She revolutionized the game," said Navratilova's former arch-rival Chris Evert. No woman had ever played tennis so well trained, aggressively and successfully. One of the reporters in New York asked if that had anything to do with her homosexuality. "Do you think the ball is afraid of me because I'm a lesbian?" Replied Navratilova, annoyed: "I didn't even know I was a lesbian when I started. My God!"
After her forced outing - a US journalist revealed Navratilova's secret in 1981 - she dealt aggressively with questions about her sexuality. On the tennis court, she has always sought salvation from the net, even when the passing balls whizzed past her time and again.
Steffi Graf passes Navratilova
They did that more and more often in the 1990s. Steffi Graf had long since broken Navratilova's supremacy, Monica Seles increased the pace from the baseline one more time. She celebrated the last of her unsurpassed nine Wimbledon victories, her 18th and final Grand Slam success in singles, in 1990. The fact that she reached the final again on the Holy Lawn in 1994 astonished her more than the spectators.
A few months later, Navratilova ended her career after 167 single titles. She had big plans, wanted to learn snowboarding, helicopter skiing, and fill her role as president of the WTA players' organization with life, but at some point she got bored. Six years later she returned successfully in doubles and mixed games, and almost eight years after the November evening in 1994 she played singles again after losing a bet.
Especially in mixed, Navratilova still celebrated impressive successes, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2003. And only hung alongside Bob Bryan in 2006, at the age of 49 and after triumphing at the US Open - her 59th Grand Slam title ever! - the bat on the nail.