Athletes

Martina Navratilova has won a total of 138 professional singles titles, the most of any man or woman, which includes a record nine Wimbledon singles championships. Navratilova added to her phenomenal tennis career an induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000. When she competed at Wimbledon in 2000 as a doubles competitor, she became the only tennis player to have been ranked in each of the last four decades. She also holds the record of 109 consecutive doubles wins with her partner, Pam Shriver. Navratilova announced that Wimbledon 2006 would be her last and by the end of the 2006 season, she would retire from doubles play. Navratilova capped off her career as a champion, winning the mixed doubles event at the 2006 U.S. Open. Playing in her first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour singles match in over seven years, she beat No. 22 Tatiana Panova to become the oldest woman to win a singles match on the tour in 2002. Also in 2002, she won the doubles title at Madrid with her partner, Natasha Zvereva, making her the oldest player to win a singles or doubles title on the tour. Following her appearance at the Virginia Slims Championships in 1994, she retired from singles play. In 1995, she returned to Wimbledon to win the mixed doubles title. Navratilova was named by ESPN's "Sports Century" as one of the top 20 athletes of the 20th Century. She served as president of the WTA in both the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995, she co-founded Women's Sports Legends. She was a commentator for HBO during the network's last five years of Wimbledon coverage, and also has provided commentary and analysis for TNT, CBS and the BBC. She was a columnist for USA Today during the 2000 Wimbledon championship. Ranked No. 1 for 332 weeks, Navratilova was a three-time Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year Award winner (1982, 1983 and 1984) and the recipient of its first Flo Hyman Memorial Award in 1987. In 1984, she was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in the Contemporary category. In 2000, she received the Women's Sports Foundation's Wilma Rudolph Courage Award. Navratilova is a former member of the Women's Sports Foundation Board of Trustees (1989 to 1994) and began her tenure as a Founder's Circle member in 1995. (10/06)