A biography for Martina Navratilovahasn’t been written yet.
“I regret that I had to leave my country. But I had to do it in order to achieve and decide my own fate. I was forced into it. Democracy came about 15 years too late for me. But I have to say that it's there now, and Czech Republic is a fantastic country; it always was but just had the wrong regime at the top.”
“Russia is now very far from being a communist country, but when I walked around Moscow, I kept glimpsing these haunting images. There were statues of Lenin and some neon signs of the hammer and sickle. I remembered myself then as a little girl, living under that oppression.”
“My worst memory is of my first dance lesson as a 14-year old in Prague. My mother put me in this silver and pink lame dress. My hair was all curled, and it was the first time I wore a garter belt. I felt so out of place!”
“I do get pissed off when I'm at some gay event, and there's a 25-year-old, and he has no idea who I am. And I say, 'You need to know more about your gay history, boy.' I think the younger generation takes it a little bit for granted.”
“Playing tennis, I didn't tie in my self-worth into winning or losing matches.”
“The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.”
“The tennis ball doesn't know how old I am. The ball doesn't know if I'm a man or a woman or if I come from a communist country or not. Sport has always broken down these barriers.”
“Sure I know where the press room is - I just look for where they throw the dog meat.”
“The Williams girls compete extremely hard on court because they hate losing - it's just that they haven't played an awful lot of tennis over the years.”
“When you make a lot of money, it just means you made a lot of money. It doesn't make you a better person.”
“If a man can coach a female, why can't a female coach a male? When I was looking for a coach, the gender of the coach never occurred to me. It was about who I thought was good and who I could get along with and listen to.”
“Ted Cruz, if he's elected president, the first thing he will do is return Don't Ask Don't Tell and roll back same-sex marriage laws. Which is law - hello - you can't really take it away. It's really terrifying the direction we're going in now.”