Originally from Czechoslovakia, Navratilova was stripped of her citizenship[6] when, in 1975 at age 18, she asked the United States for political asylum and was granted temporary residence.

Although perhaps most renowned for her mastery of fast low-bouncing grass, her best early showing at majors was on the red clay at the French Open, where she would go on to reach the final six times.

After losing to Evert in the semifinals of the US Open in September, the 18-year-old Navratilova went to the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in New York City and informed them that she wished to defect from communist Czechoslovakia.

She successfully defended her Wimbledon title in 1979, again beating Evert in the final, this time in straight sets, and earned the World No.

In April 1981, Evert defeated Navratilova in the finals of the Women's Tennis Association championships, held on clay at Amelia Island, 6–0, 6–0.

It was Navratilova's only professional double bagel loss (one she later avenged with a crushing 6–2, 6–0 defeat of Evert in the finals of the same Amelia Island event in 1984).

It was at this point that Navratilova began working with Nancy Lieberman to improve her fitness and toughen her mental approach to better compete with Evert and fulfill her true potential.

This was a major turnaround for Evert, who was so outmatched the year earlier in the final that Bud Collins remarked as a TV commentator that the sport needed to create a higher league for Navratilova to compete in.

[29] Navratilova also defeated Graf in straight sets at the WTA Tour Championship and with an 89–3 record, earned the number-one ranking for the fifth consecutive year.

In 1988, Graf won all four major singles titles, beating the 31-year-old Navratilova 5–7, 6–2, 6–1 in the Wimbledon final, their only match of the year, recovering from a set and a break down.

In September 1992, the 35-year-old Navratilova played 40-year-old Jimmy Connors in the third Battle of the Sexes tennis match at Caesars Palace in Paradise, Nevada.

[37] Navratilova then lost her second round match with the same player who had beaten her at the French Open the previous month, Gisela Dulko, in three sets.

[38] On Thursday, July 6, 2006, Navratilova played her last matches at Wimbledon, with partner Liezel Huber losing a quarterfinal match in women's doubles to fourth seeds and eventual champions Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, and later in the same day with partner Mark Knowles losing in the third round of mixed doubles to eventual champions Andy Ram and Vera Zvonareva.

Her last title in women's doubles came on August 21, 2006, at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, Quebec, where she partnered Nadia Petrova.

They included Miroslav Navrátil, George Parma,[43] Věra Suková, Renée Richards (1981–1983), Mike Estep (1983–1986),[46] and Craig Kardon (1988–1994).

[49][50] In 1985, Navratilova released an autobiography, co-written with The New York Times sports columnist George Vecsey, titled Martina in the U.S. and Being Myself in the rest of the world.

[69][70] According to the New York Times' Jane E. Brody, in September 1982, an acute attack of toxoplasmosis "contributed to Martina Navratilova's defeat during the US Open tournament", in which No.

[81][82] A routine mammogram in January 2010 revealed that she had a ductal carcinoma in situ in her left breast, which she was informed of on February 24, and in March she had the tumour surgically removed;[83] she received radiation therapy in May.

[81] In December 2010, Navratilova was hospitalized after developing high altitude pulmonary edema while attempting a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

[92] Navratilova participated in a lawsuit against Amendment 2, a successful 1992 ballot proposition in Colorado designed to prevent sexual orientation from being a protected class.

"[109] In an April 2019 article for The Washington Post, she opined that the Equality Act, in its current form, "would make it unlawful to differentiate among girls and women in sports on the basis of sex for any purpose".

"[113][114] In April 2023, Navratilova supported of a boycott of Nike because it had entered into a corporate sponsorship with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman, to advertise a sports bra.

[115][116] In October 2023, Navratilova criticized US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland's interview of environmentalist drag queen Pattie Gonia outside New York's Stonewall National Monument, calling the performer a "pathetic parody of women.

"[117][118] Navratilova has condemned the IOC for allowing women boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, whom she believes to be "biological males", to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics, despite there being no evidence that this is the case.

[119][120][121][122] By winning the 1983 US Open title, Navratilova completed the career Grand Slam, becoming only the seventh woman in history to achieve it.

Her role was the more significant; she partnered with the lead male character Jonathan Hart (Robert Wagner) in a mixed doubles match.

[137] Though a homage rather than an appearance, in 1992 Navratilova was mentioned by the titular character in episode 14 of the anime Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon.

[143][better source needed] In 2018, it was reported that Glenn Greenwald was developing a feature-length documentary about Navratilova with Reese Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine.

[144] During an interview at the Salesforce World Tour London 2024 event, Navratilova confirmed that a documentary was currently being filmed with her and Chris Evert, and would be released in 2025.

Chris Evert (1975/1985 – 260 w) Evonne Goolagong (1976 – 2 w) Martina Navratilova (1978/1987 – 331 w) Tracy Austin (1980 – 22 w) Steffi Graf (1987/1997 – 377 w) // Monica Seles (1991/1996 – 178 w) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1995 – 12 w) Martina Hingis (1997/2001 – 209 w) Lindsay Davenport (1998/2006 – 98 w) Jennifer Capriati (2001/2002 – 17 w) Venus Williams (2002 – 11 w) Serena Williams (2002/2017 – 319 w) Kim Clijsters (2003/2011 – 20 w) Justine Henin (2003/2008 – 117 w) Amélie Mauresmo (2004/2006 – 39 w) Maria Sharapova (2005/2012 – 21 w) Ana Ivanovic (2008 – 12 w) Jelena Janković (2008/2009 – 18 w) Dinara Safina (2009 – 26 w) Caroline Wozniacki (2010/2018 – 71 w) Victoria Azarenka (2012/2013 – 51 w) Angelique Kerber (2016/2017 – 34 w) Karolína Plíšková (2017 – 8 w) Garbiñe Muguruza (2017 – 4 w) Simona Halep (2017/2019 – 64 w) Naomi Osaka (2019 – 25 w) Ashleigh Barty (2019/2022 – 121 w) Iga Świątek (2022/2024 – 125 w) Aryna Sabalenka (2023/2024 – 9 w)