"her U.S. citizenship nor does she plan to do so, and that reclaiming Czech nationality was not politically motivated. Navratilova was born Martina Šubertová in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her parents divorced when she was three, and her mother, an accomplished gymnast, tennis player, and ski instructor, moved the family to Řevnice. In 1962, her mother Jana married Miroslav Navrátil, who became her first tennis coach. Martina then took the name of her stepfather (adding the feminine suffix ""ová""), thus becoming Martina Navrátilová (). Her father, Mirek (officially Miroslav Subert), was a ski instructor and remarried and divorced. When she was eight,"
"Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( ; born Martina Šubertová ; October 18, 1956) is a former Czechoslovak and later American professional tennis player and coach. In 2005, ""Tennis"" magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1975 through 2005 and she is considered one of the best, if not the best, female tennis players of all time. Navratilova was world No. 1 for a total of 332 weeks in singles, and a record 237 weeks in doubles, making her the only player in history to have held the top spot in both singles and doubles for"
"people in sports. After retiring as a player, she coached Martina Navratilova to two Wimbledon titles. She was born on August 19, 1934, in New York City, named ""Richard Raskind"", and raised, as she put it, as ""a nice Jewish boy"" in Forest Hills, Queens. Her father David Raskind was an orthopedic surgeon, and her mother was one of the first female psychiatrists in the United States, in addition to being a professor at Columbia University. Richards attended Horace Mann School and excelled as the wide receiver for the football team, the pitcher for the baseball team, and on the"
"were the first pair eliminated. Navratilova guest-starred as a dissatisfied Yelp reviewer in episode three of the third season of absurdist comedy ""Portlandia"". Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( ; born Martina Šubertová ; October 18, 1956) is a former Czechoslovak and later American professional tennis player and coach. In 2005, ""Tennis"" magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1975 through 2005 and she is considered one of the best, if not the best, female tennis players of all time. Navratilova was world No. 1 for a total of 332 weeks in singles, and a record"
"first one at the 2006 US Open, partnering Nathalie Dechy, and the other at the 2012 Australian Open, partnering Svetlana Kuznetsova. Her other two came in mixed doubles, the first at the 2004 US Open, partnering Bob Bryan, and her second at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, partnering Andy Ram. Zvonareva was born in 1984 in Moscow to Igor Zvonarev and Natalia (née Bykova). Igor played Bandy in the USSR championship with Dynamo Moscow, while Nataliya played field hockey and was the bronze medalist at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Zvonareva was introduced to tennis at age six by her mother."
"in 1974, at the age of 17. Upon arriving in the United States, Navratilova first lived with former Vaudeville actress, Frances Dewey Wormser, and her husband, Morton Wormser, a tennis enthusiast. Navratilova was the runner-up at two major singles tournaments in 1975. She lost in the final of the Australian Open to Evonne Goolagong and in the final of the French Open to Chris Evert over three sets. After losing to Evert in the semifinals of that year's US Open in September, the 18-year-old Navratilova went to the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in New York City and"
"which were played in front of their home crowds in Tokyo and Rome, respectively. She also has wins in the qualifying rounds over former top 5 players Francesca Schiavone and Daniela Hantuchová. Krunić was born to Bratislav and Ivana Krunić and has a sister named Anastasia. She was born on 15 March 1993 in Moscow, Russia. She currently resides after Moscow and Bratislava in Belgrade, and speaks Serbian, Slovak, Russian and English fluently. Krunić picked up a tennis racquet aged seven. She began training tennis at the Spartak Moscow club, which spawned numerous tennis stars such as Anna Kournikova, Anastasia"
"Navratilova, Frank Sedgman, Doris Hart and Serena Williams. Having grown up as a Roman Catholic, Court became associated with Pentecostalism in the 1970s and became a Pentecostal Christian minister in 1991. She later founded the Margaret Court Ministries, and in this capacity she has been a vocal critic of LGBT rights. Margaret Smith was born in Albury, New South Wales, the youngest of four children of Lawrence Smith and Catherine Smith (née Beaufort). She has two older brothers, Kevin and Vincent, and an older sister, June Shanahan. She is a natural left-hander who was persuaded to change to a right"
"important contributions in antenna theory, was born in Samara. Twentieth-century Russian Soviet writer Alexey Tolstoy lived in Samara, and there is a museum dedicated to him. Dmitry Shostakovich lived in Samara during World War II and finished his Symphony No. 7 there. The archaeologist and ethnographer Boris Kuftin was born in Samara, Russian sociologist and ethnographer Pavel Romanov, too. Professional tennis player and a multiple junior Grand Slam champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was born in Samara. NHL goaltender for the Colorado Avalanche, Semyon Varlamov, also hails from Samara. Polish writer and novelist Maria Kuncewiczowa was born in Samara. Samara, Russia is"
"and compliant with the relevant rules"". She returned to the WTA tour on April 26, 2017 at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. In 2018, she launched a new programme to mentor women entrepreneurs. Maria Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987, in Nyagan, Russian SFSR. Her parents, Yuri and Yelena, are from Gomel, Belarussian SSR. Concerned about the regional effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, they left their homeland shortly before Maria was born. In 1989, when Sharapova was two, the family moved to Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. There her father Yuri befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would"
"to accomplished tennis players Melanie Molitorová and Karol Hingis. Molitorová was a professional tennis player who was once ranked tenth among women in Czechoslovakia, and was determined to develop Hingis into a top player as early as pregnancy. Her father was ranked as high as 19th in the Czechoslovak tennis rankings. Martina Hingis spent her early childhood growing up in the town of Rožnov pod Radhoštěm (now in Czech Republic). Hingis's parents divorced when she was six, and she and her mother defected from Czechoslovakia in 1987 and emigrated to Trübbach (Wartau) in Switzerland when she was seven. Her mother"
"They lived in Sarasota, Florida, for over 25 years. Morton Wormser was an avid tennis player and supporter of the sport. As a result of this interest, professional tennis player Martina Navratilova lived with Frances and Morton when she first arrived in the United States in the early 1970s. Frances and Morton Wormser traveled ""around the world"" on their honeymoon. She took her last major trip to visit friends in Maui when she was 100 years old. She was a major contributor to the Aviation Museum of Santa Paula, which she supported in honor of her brother, pilot Jim Dewey."
"of Wimbledon in 2009; and Samantha Stosur in the third round of Roland Garros in 2011. She also beat Martina Navratilova in the second round of Wimbledon in 2004 in Navratilova's final Grand Slam singles match. Dulko retired from professional tennis on 18 November 2012, aged 27. Gisela was born and raised in Tigre, Buenos Aires Province. Her brother Alejandro, who is seven years her senior, is her coach. Gisela was born to Ana and now deceased Estanislao, who was of Hungarian descent. At the age of twelve, she moved from Argentina to Miami, Florida, in order to pursue a"
"Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the son of Savko Kuzmanov (an aeronautical engineer) and Dora Rangelova (Bulgaria Fed Cup team's former tennis player and present team captain). His maternal family is entirely related to the sport. Dora's father Zdravko Rangelov, who is one of the founders of tennis in Plovdiv, has been a tennis player and longtime coach in Tennis Club Lokomotiv, whilst her mother has been a volleyball player and coach. Dora's brother, Stefan Rangelov is a former tennis player and present tennis coach. Kuzmanov began playing tennis at age of six when his mother Dora took him to play on courts"
"with Martina Navratilova, Elena Likhovtseva, Alicia Molik, and Amélie Mauresmo. Pairing with Likhovtseva she climbed to No. 3 in doubles in 2004, holding that position for eight weeks, which remains her career-high. She won the Australian Open twice in doubles, in 2005 alongside Alicia Molik and in 2012 partnering Vera Zvonareva. Kuznetsova also played various times mixed doubles at Grand Slams, most prominently in 2003, but never went beyond the quarterfinals. She has won a total of 18 WTA singles and 16 WTA doubles titles to date. Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova was born in Leningrad. Her father, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, has coached"
"from Bratislava, and her mother Daniela (""Dana"") is from Močenok. She has one brother, Brian. Bencic began playing tennis at the age of four, learning at Melanie Molitor's tennis school. She began training every day with Molitor, the mother of Martina Hingis, at age seven. She also spent six months training at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida. Bencic kicked off her 2012 season by winning the G18 ITF tournaments in the Czech Republic, dropping no sets in the former and only one in the latter. She then qualified for and reached the quarterfinals of a $10,000 event in Leimen,"
"and for representing her country with distinction, in 2013 she was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit by Polish President Bronisław Komorowski. On 14 November 2018 she retired citing the physical strain. Born in Kraków to Robert Radwański and Marta, Radwańska began playing tennis at the age of four after her father introduced her to the sport. Her younger sister, Urszula, is also a tennis player. Radwańska named Pete Sampras and Martina Hingis as inspirations. In 2009, Radwańska became a WTA ambassador for Habitat for Humanity. She has also studied tourism at universities in Kraków. Radwańska is a practising Roman"
"two over Simona Halep and one over Serena Williams. In doubles, Svitolina has won two titles, both at the İstanbul Cup, in 2014 and 2015. Her career-high ranking in doubles play is world No. 108, which she reached on 4 May 2015. Svitolina was born in Odessa to parents Mikhaylo Svitolin (a former wrestler) and Olena Svitolina (a former competitive rower). She has an older brother named Yulian. As a child, Elina noticed that her brother was getting a lot of attention because he was playing tennis. This inspired her to take up the sport to regain some of the"
"informed them that she wished to defect from Communist Czechoslovakia. Within a month, she received a green card and in 1981 became a US citizen. Also, in 1975, Navratilova teamed with then world number one, Chris Evert, to win the French Open women's doubles title, Martina's first major title. They teamed again in 1976 to win the women's Wimbledon doubles title over Billie Jean King and Bette Stove. Navratilova won her first major singles title at Wimbledon in 1978, where she defeated Evert in three sets in the final and captured the world No. 1 ranking for the first time"
"Jennifer Russell Jennifer Russell (born Jennifer Rebecca Embry in Houston, Texas on August 7, 1978) is an American professional tennis player on the WTA Tour. Russell was ranked in top 50 for doubles and as high as number 41, in November 2005. Before joining the WTA tour she had won 13 titles on the International Tennis Federation Tour. She won her first WTA doubles title at the Gaz de France Stars in 2004. She was partnered with Mara Santangelo of Italy. In 2004 they reached the third round at Wimbledon, before being beaten by Martina Navratilova and Lisa Raymond. In"
"Open, when she defeated the 30th seed Julia Vakulenko in straight sets and lost to eventual runner–up, the 7th seed Ana Ivanovic. Olaru reached her highest singles ranking, world No. 53, on 27 July 2009, and her highest doubles ranking, No. 32, on 28 August 2017. Ioana Raluca Olaru currently resides in her hometown Bucharest. Her parents, Adrian and Doina, run a convenience store together. Her sister Cristina is 16 years older than Olaru, and lives in London. Olaru began playing tennis aged seven, and cites Kim Clijsters, Martina Navratilova and Roger Federer as her role models. She graduated from"
"donated more than $25000 to Democrat campaigns. By winning the 1983 US Open title, Navratilova completed the Career Grand Slam. She became only the seventh female player in history to achieve this. In 2005, ""Tennis"" magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005, directly over Steffi Graf. Billie Jean King, a former World No. 1 player, said in 2006 that Navratilova is ""the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived."" In 2008, tennis historian and journalist Bud Collins called Navratilova ""arguably, the greatest player of all time."" In 2006, Martina"
"straight. Navratilova has since identified herself as a lesbian. From 1984 to 1991, Navratilova had a long-term relationship with Judy Nelson, whom she met at a tournament in Fort Worth in 1982. Their split in 1991 included a much-publicized legal wrangle. Navratilova was featured in a WITA (Women's International Tennis Association) calendar, shot by Jean Renard with her Wimbledon trophies and Nelson's children in the background. On September 6, 2014, Navratilova proposed to her longtime girlfriend Julia Lemigova at the US Open. They married in New York on December 15, 2014. According to the ""New York Times""' Jane E. Brody,"
"Meredith McGrath Meredith McGrath (born April 28, 1971) is a former professional tennis player. She was born in Midland, Michigan, USA and made her debut on the Women's Tennis Association tour in 1988. In her eight-year professional career Meredith achieved career-high world rankings of No. 18 in singles and No. 4 in doubles. She notched victories over such players as Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, Jana Novotna, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, and Gigi Fernandez, and Mary Jo Fernandez. The pinnacle of her career came in reaching the singles semi-finals and doubles finals at the 1996 Wimbledon Championships. In the singles"
"Irena Pavlovic Irena Pavlovic (, ; born 28 September 1988) is a French female tennis player of Serbian descent. Born in Serbian capital Belgrade, she moved to Paris when she was three. Pavlovic won three singles and 13 doubles events organized by the International Tennis Federation, and is currently ranked World No. 152. She was awarded with wild cards for two WTA in 2009, Internationaux de Strasbourg and French Open, which was her first grand slam appearance. Pavlovic lost in the first round both times to, respectively, Kristina Barrois and Akgul Amanmuradova. In her career, she defeated players such as"
"tournament was sponsored by Bank of the West from 1992 to 2017, and held on the campus of Stanford University from 1997 to 2017. Martina Navratilova holds the record for the most singles titles: five (1979–1980, 1988, 1991, and 1993). It is currently owned and operated by IMG. Since 2014 the event is scheduled a week after the normal collocation, in place of previous tournament Southern California Open. While commonly known as the ""Stanford Classic"" from 1997–2017, the event moved to San Jose State University in 2018 and received a new sponsor, Mubadala Investment Company. It was renamed as the"
"as a junior and relatively unknown before her Fed Cup success as a teenager. Following the 2017 Fed Cup, she began having more success on the WTA Tour, reaching four finals in 2018 to go along with eight top ten victories. Sabalenka has a very aggressive style of play, often accumulating high numbers of winners and unforced errors. With her height, she also has a very strong serve. Sabalenka was born on 5 May 1998 in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Her father Sergey was a hockey player. Aryna started playing tennis by chance. She said, ""One day, my dad"
"Tatiana Panova Tatiana Urayevna Panova (born 13 August 1976, Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a former Russian tennis player. On 23 September 2002 Panova reached her career-high singles ranking, when she peaked world No. 20. 2002 was the first year that Panova really jumped into the spotlight, reaching finals in Auckland and Sarasota early in the season. She reached the third round of Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and at the US Open, defeating significant players like Mirjana Lučić and Anna Kournikova along the way. Martina Navratilova, at age 45, beat her 6–1, 4–6, 6–2 at Eastborne, in her first singles"
"Los Angeles, California, to Nedra S. (""née"" Stern, born 1934), a travel agent, and Lee N. Kudrow (born 1933), a physician who specialized in the treatment of headaches. She has an older sister, Helene Marla (born 1955), and an older brother, Santa Monica neurologist David B. Kudrow (born 1957). Kudrow was raised in a middle-class Jewish family and had a Bat Mitzvah ceremony. Her ancestors emigrated from Belarus, Germany, Hungary and Poland, and some of them lived in the village of Ilya, in the Minsk area. Kudrow's paternal grandparents were David Kudrow (born in Mogilev, Belarus) and Gertrude Farberman (born"
"on August 21, 2006, at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where she partnered Nadia Petrova. Navratilova won 18 major singles titles: nine at Wimbledon, four at the US Open, three at the Australian Open, and two at the French Open. Her overall record in 67 major singles events was 306–49 (120–14 at Wimbledon, 89–17 at the US Open, 51–11 at the French Open, and 46–7 at the Australian Open). Some observers argue that the very few singles matches she played in her forties should be counted separately in her career statistics. She is the only player"
"the highest ranked doubles players during her career, ending every season since 2008 ranked within the top 30, and every season since 2011 in the top ten. In May 2012, she entered a regular partnership with Ekaterina Makarova, becoming one of the leading teams on tour. They have won twelve titles together, including three Grand Slam titles, the 2016 WTA Finals, as well as Olympic gold at Rio. Vesnina was born to Sergey and teacher Irina. She has a younger brother, Dmitry, a former junior tennis player. She started playing tennis aged seven in the sports school in Sochi. In"
"and backhand. She is also best known for her trademark forehand-slice, her winning deamenour and her exceptional shot-making abilities at the net. Niculescu currently holds the Open Era record of highest first serve percentage in a year (91%-in 2011, tied with Sara Errani).[1] Niculescu has defeated many top 10 opponents throughout her career, having 25 wins against top 10 opponents to date. Niculescu was born in Slatina, Romania, but moved to Bucharest when she was four. She is currently coached by Călin Stelian Ciorbagiu. As a junior, Niculescu had the remarkable gift to win quite easily every final she reached."
"century"", and has been called by some (including Jack Kramer, Harry Hopman, Mercer Beasley, Don Budge, and AP News) the greatest female player in history. Wills was born on October 6, 1905, in Centerville, Alameda County, California (now Fremont), near San Francisco. She was the only child to Clarence A. Willis, a physician and surgeon and Catherine Anderson. She lived in the small town of Byron, California, and practiced her tennis game at the Byron Hot Springs resort. She was tutored by her mother at home until she was eight years old; she graduated from Anna Head School in Berkeley"