Reading success stories of great professionals stimulates motivational enzyme within us and we all wish to emulate them on our path of success.
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Read story of Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova is a retired tennis player and coach, with the title “the greatest singles, doubles, and mixed doubles player who has ever graced our planet”.
In her tennis career, Martina won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 women’s doubles titles, and 10 major mixed doubles titles. She also reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including nine times consequently from 1982 to 1990.
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And she won the women’s singles title at Wimbledon a record nine times. Martina was born in Czechoslovakia but was stripped of her citizenship in 1975, after which she became a US citizen.
Martina completed 3.5 years of high school, after which her tennis career took over. Martina had a rough childhood – her parents divorced when she was three and in 1962, her mother married Miroslav Navrátil, who later became Martina’s first tennis coach. Her biological father, on the other hand, committed suicide when Martina was eight.
Despite a troubled childhood, Martina did not lose hope in life. She was determined to become a good tennis player and she practised day and night and at the age of 15, she won the Czechoslovakia national tennis championship.
Martina Navratilova won her first major singles at Wimbledon in 1978, where she not only defeated Chris Evert but also captured the World No 1 ranking for the first time.
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Even after retirement, Martina is involved in various charities revolving around animal rights, underprivileged children, and gay rights.
Martina herself has declared that she is homosexual, which is why she defends gay rights. In 1992, she participated in a lawsuit against Amendment 2, a ballot proposition in Colorado designed to deny gays and lesbians legal protection from discrimination.
And in 1993, she spoke in front of the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. For her immense hard work, dedication, and determination, she was given the National Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign.
Some of the other awards won by Martina are the International Tennis Federation World Champion for 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986. In addition, she was the recipient of the Women’s Tennis Association Award in 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986.
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The Tennis Magazine has also declared Martina as the greatest female tennis player from 1965 to 2005. Martina Navratilova is indeed a legend, whose achievements speak for themselves – 1,442 singles wins, 9 Wimbledon singles championships, and 344 combined singles and doubles titles.
Martina is an inspiration to not only women worldwide but also to men. Not all of us are born with a silver spoon in our mouths, but that is no excuse to stop trying and carving our destinies.
Even though Martina had a terrible childhood, she did not have self-pity. She pushed herself to greater heights and kept trying till she achieved her dreams. Even in the social sphere, she is someone who fights for justice.
Instead of becoming a victim of unfair legal systems, we should fight for our rights. These are some of the important lessons that we can learn from Martina Navratilova, former world champion in tennis.
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