interview/martina navratilova the second act · you must be aware of one inter-pretation of your...

58 The Sportstar January 31, 2004

I T’S the voice — it’s always thefirst thing that strikes you about

Martina Navratilova. That signa-ture voice that leaves you wonder-ing, ‘How can a woman of suchathleticism and natural gracesound like a cartoon character — amouse, or some exotic bird?’ Butthere’s a bigger mystery surround-ing Navratilova these days: howcan she, at 47, still successfullycompete at the professional level?

When she retired in 1994 as thewinningest player of the Open era,we thought we had seen the last ofher feathery touch volleys andbooming overheads. She hadearned more than $20 million inprize money and lofted every trophyworth holding before leaving thegame on her own terms. So whyrisk a comeback five years later?What could this woman have left toprove?

Apparently plenty. Besides be-coming the oldest WTA tourna-ment winner, in 2003 Navratilovawon two mixed-doubles GrandSlam titles (her Wimbledon winwas her 20th title there, tying herwith Billie Jean King for the most),reached the final of the women’sdoubles at the U.S. Open, and ex-tended her unbeaten streak in FedCup competition to 39 matches,helping to save the U.S. from asweep by the French team in thefinal.

Tennis caught up with Navrati-lova to ask about her improbablereturn to the competitive game. Herlittle voice, bordering on shrillwhen she is excited, was vintageMartina, but always in the serviceof articulating a compelling per-

■ INTERVIEW/MARTINA NAVRATILOVA

The second actWhen Martina Navratilova retired in 1994, no one

imagined she would return in her 40s to compete againstpros half her age. But with her trademark focus

and commitment, she’s not only playing — she’s winning. By PETER BODO.

From Tennis Magazine © 2004 ByMiller Sports Group LLC. Distributedby the Los Angeles Times SyndicateInternational.

January 31, 2004 The Sportstar 59

spective on life and her sport.Question: F. Scott Fitzgerald

said, “There are no second acts inAmerican lives.” What do youthink of that?

Answer: Actually, I’m hopingthere’s a third act, because this oneis still about tennis, and I’m hopingthere will be more to come when Ifinish playing. I don’t know whenthat will be, though. If I do play in2004, it definitely will be my lastyear. My heart will tell me.

One thing, though. My resultswon’t be the determining influence.If playing or not had to do with re-sults, I would have quit after Wim-bledon this year. That would havebeen a nice place to stop. But I com-mitted myself to my doubles partner(Svetlana Kuznetsova) for the year,and our goal all along was to getinto the WTA Championships.● Has anyone yet had the temerityto call you “doubles specialist Mar-tina Navratilova?”

No, not that I can recall. Butthat’s exactly what I am now, sowhy not?● When we left you at the end of1994, you were riding off into thesunset. In 2003, you were a GrandSlam title-holder again. What hap-pened in the in-between years?

For the first of those five years, Ijust had a great time. For the mostpart I was on my own. I got to dothings I loved for longer periods oftime than ever before. The mosttime I could take away from tenniswhile playing was two weeks.

So I spent a lot of time in Africa.I went with friends who were doingsome glassworking outside of Nai-robi and we went on trips into thebush. I got to know a lot moreabout animals, I learned a littleSwahili. I liked it so much I felt Icould live there.

I also did a few woodworkingcourses. My three-car garage hasnow become a one-car garage be-cause the rest of the space is mywoodworking studio. I have all thegoodies, the band saw, table saw,lathe, all of it.● Did those experiences allow a dif-ferent aspect of your nature tocome to the fore?

I did some growing up, I guess.

Tennis is such a selfish existence. Ithas to be, in an individual sport. Iguess doing something for others,making a table for my friends, wasan unselfish act, although I neverthought of it that way. To me it wasjust something I wanted to do.

The biggest difference is the freetime and not having to worry abouthow some outside interest would af-fect me as a player. Of course, I havethose issues again now. When Ithink about going to the movies, I

ask myself, “Can I get away with it,or is it too late? Will I pay a price inmy game by not getting enoughsleep?”

Even in doubles, you must payattention to what you need to do toplay your best.● Did you miss the adrenaline rushof big-time singles competition?

I missed the ability factor, thatyou’re really good at somethingthat few others can do and you canexcite people with it. But I didn’t

Facing page: Martina Navratilova of the U.S. with her lifetime achievementaward at the Sports Personality of the Year Awards at the BBC TelevisionCentre in London. — Pic. REUTERS. “He’s the ideal mixed-doubles partnerbecause he covers a lot of ground and hits a big ball,” says Martina Navratilovaof Leander Paes. — Pic. CLIVE BRUNSKILL/GETTY IMAGES


really miss the competition. I gotjust as much of a kick out of playingsoftball, basketball, hockey. I hadfun in those years away doing othersports, and for my competitive fix Ialways had World Team Tennis. Iplayed four or six matches everysummer and didn’t need more of it.

When I got serious about play-ing again, it was about doing some-thing I knew I was good at. Butwhen I started hitting balls again, itwas like, oh my god, how long is itgoing to take me to get back just tothe level I could reach with my eyes

closed five years ago? But gettingback there turned out to be, morethan anything else, a labour of love.● You must be aware of one inter-pretation of your return, that youcame back because you couldn’tstay away, you were bored andneeded meaning in your life. Doesit bother you that some peoplethink that?

It doesn’t bother me at all, be-cause if you know me you knowI’ve never been bored, not a day inmy life. Returning was all aboutseeing how well I can play again

and whether or not there wassomething I could still learn. I wasfascinated by the idea that I couldstill improve, despite my age.

I’ve never cared what peoplethink. If I did, I would have kept mymouth shut over the years on lots ofthings. If something is good enoughfor me, nobody has a right to ques-tion it. Also, I honestly didn’t feel Iwould sully my record by goingthrough with a comeback. Not thatit would have made a difference if Ithought it might, because I prob-ably would have done it anyway.

My father didn’t want me toplay (again). He was afraid I wouldlose in the first round. Well, we gotto the second round in our firsttournament. Of course, it tookawhile before we won something,but that’s OK, too.● Was it difficult making the com-mitment to return at a seriouslevel?

I was in a good position to do it.I was single, not beholden to any-one. It was just like taking a jobafter not having one. You wonder,do I really want to do this? That’s alot easier when it’s not going tochange anyone’s life but your own.

When I started in 2000, Ithought I would just play those fourtournaments that year and be donewith it. So I ended up playing forthree years without winning any-thing. But I knew I could get better.That’s what kept me out there andcoming back for more. That com-mitment was there.

What’s meant the most to me isthe reaction from fans. I had awoman come up to me, give me ahug, and say, “You’ve inspired meso much, and not 20 years ago, butnow, the way you’re putting your-self on the line.” Or like the time Igot off the chairlift at Aspen andsomeone yelled, “Hey, Martina, yourock!” I was like, “Thanks, dude.”Even though I’m older than thatkid’s mother.

And it can be tough, knowingyou won’t win as much as you oncedid but still giving it everything. Itcan be a struggle just trying to doyour best every day and not allow-ing age to be a big factor. Sure, Icould never be as good in a lot of

AFP


ways. But in other ways, perhaps Icould be better.● Was your decision to returnbased on a slow realisation, or asudden moment when everythingjust clicked and it was like, “Yeah, Iwant to play tennis again”?

It really was an accident. If Iwasn’t doing TV commentary atWimbledon in the years I was re-tired I probably never would havedone this. Commentating at Wim-bledon made me watch the springevents, and the French Open, just todo my homework.

I didn’t really have to keep upafter Wimbledon, so I didn’t. Oneyear, some friends and I rented ahouseboat on Lake Powell (in Neva-da). We were totally out of touch,and I remember returning fromthat trip on the Wednesday afterthe U.S. Open final and not evenknowing who had won. And Ididn’t even really need to know.

Those first few years, from 1995to about ’97, I was playing a fewLegends events, but that was it. Iwas falling really out of shape andgetting tired of it. I wasn’t doingmuch of anything but I was eatinga lot and putting on weight. So Istarted working out again. While Iwas on a trip to Africa, I startedrunning.

So by the time I got to Wimble-don in 1999 I was pretty fit. In fact,I felt so good I thought I could haveplayed there. I still had the hands, Iknew that. But big deal. If you don’thave the legs to get to the ball, itdoesn’t matter. I shared these feel-ings with my good friend Mariannede Swardt, who was off the tourwith a bad back. We talked againthat following February, when shewas better, and decided, OK, let’stry it. Let’s go for the doubles.

I had a lot of fun, and when herback went out again after Wimble-don, I started looking for other part-ners. It sort of snowballed fromthere.● What have you learned on yourcomeback trail?

I was surprised by the generalsupport for what I was doing. Also,I’m surprised at how that supportruns the gamut from young to oldand male to female and everything

else, all walks of life, races, every-thing. That support is what mademe keep coming back.

In terms of tennis, the other dayI did a drill to enhance my handquickness. I was doing a drill whereI was hitting high, line-drive fore-

hand and backhand volleys. Well, Inever hit that shot in my life before.Now I do. Now I wish I had thatshot 15 years ago.● Did you think coming backwould be this much fun?

It’s fallen into place now that I

Navratilova with her doubles partner Svetlana Kuznetsova. “Here’s this girl,30 years younger, and she’s like a sponge. And sometimes she tells me tocalm down. It makes me laugh,” says Navratilova. — Pic. CLIVE BRUNSKILL/GETTY IMAGES


have the final piece of the puzzle —my trainer, Giselle (Tirado, ArantxaSanchez-Vicario’s former trainer).

For the last few years, I had acoach here and there but I did myown training. That gets old. For me,it got old even before I startedagain. In my last two years on thetour I would have been better offwith a trainer than a coach. Bythen, I knew how to play the game.It was about getting to the ball,nothing else really mattered. Giselleknows how to train. She knowsthat training should be threethings: fun, varied, and effective.Last March, when we started doingsprints, she was just laughing at mewhile she was running backwards.Now I can keep up with her facingthe same direction.● How much does your successhave to do with your 20 years offidelity to training and nutrition?

I couldn’t do this if I hadn’ttrained my body for it 20 years ago.It would be too hard to start culti-vating my fitness now. I would justbe beating myself up, and tennis issuch a hard sport to begin with.

Now there’s something I didn’tfully appreciate before. It wasn’tuntil I quit and then started againthat I realised, tennis is rough, man.All the twisting and turning andstarting and pivoting. I had to do allkinds of specific training to dealwith tennis-specific pains and ach-es, like tightness in my lower back.Overall, though, I’m holding uppretty well. But it takesmaintenance.

You need mental toughness todo the serious physical training.People used to ask me, “How didyou become so mentally tough?” I’dtell them, “Because you get mental-ly strong just doing the physicalwork before you even step on thecourt. You walk out there knowingyou’re in better shape than youropponent.”● You were a vegetarian for sometime. Is it possible to be a world-

Navratilova with the Wimbledonchampion Conchita Martinez afterthe 1994 Wimbledon final.Navratilova has won a record-equalling 20 titles at Wimbledon. — Pic. GETTY IMAGES


class athlete without eating meat?About six years ago, I got sick

on bad eggs. I threw up and then Icouldn’t look at an egg for a coupleof years. I had a lot of trouble get-ting enough protein in my systemafter that, especially on the road.

I’ve gone back to eating fish. Itwas hard at first, believe me. It tooka lot of getting used to. But I’m look-ing forward to going back to being atotal veggie. One day, I’d like to goraw. But that’s luxury, because youneed someone fixing your meals orhave nothing better to do thanmake them yourself, and I don’twant to be a slave to food.

My vegetarianism has alwaysbeen philosophical, not physical.That’s why I want to get back to it.● Did you set any standard foryourself when you returned, likesaying that if you didn’t get pastthe third round by some date youwould pack it in?

No, never. When I started play-ing, I realised that most of the timeswe lost, it was either because Iwasn’t matching up well with mypartner, or that my partner wasn’tplaying as well as he or she needed.I felt if I could just get someone alittle better than me, I’d be OK. Be-cause I can hold my own, but Ican’t carry anyone else anymore.● A lot of doubles players have achip on their shoulders about notgetting enough respect. Can youtalk about the satisfactions of play-ing doubles?

You know, I’ve always loveddoubles, and for the same reasonsthat I love the game now. Thingshappen really fast. You have to bequick with your feet, your hands,and your head. There’s also a wild-card element with partners — yourown as well as the other team.There’s always another personlurking.

I also love playing on teams, Ilove working with a partner andtrying to figure things out. I alwaysloved the talking. That’s one of themain reasons I’ve always had acoach. Half the time I didn’t needthe advice, I just wanted to talkabout what was going on. I love theidea of on-court coaching. Thatwould be the best.

Navratilova poses with a memento after the Virginia Slims championships in1994. — Pic. GAMMA

confident about that. That leavesLeander free to do his thing. He’s sofast it’s just ridiculous. He’s the ide-al mixed-doubles partner becausehe covers a lot of ground and hits abig ball.

He also protects my serve well,even if I’m throwing in puff-balls,he’ll get the job done. And thatgives me confidence on my serve.At Wimbledon, I lost serve likethree times in six matches. ● After having to deal for so longwith the stress of singles, is all thisgravy?

If I had just retired from singlesand continued playing doubles,that might have been the case. Buttaking all that time away added anerve-wracking element to tryingto get back. You know, I went frombeing someone who made headlineswhen she lost to someone whomade them when she won. But it’sa lot easier in doubles to say, “Ok,let’s just do our best and see whathappens.”● When you left Wimbledon as asingles player for the last time, youtook a handful of grass as a me-mento. What was it like going backthere?

The first year, 2000, I just

So that’s another great thingabout doubles, you can talk to yourpartners instead of to yourself like Iused to do when I played singles.The hardest thing for me in doubleswas having a partner who didn’tlike to talk. I was always like, “Thisisn’t much fun.” So I had the solu-tion, play with (Pam) Shriver!

Seriously, that had a lot to dowith our success. We liked eachother, we liked talking, and weknew how to keep it fun. Now, withSveta, here’s this girl, 30 yearsyounger, and she’s like a sponge.And sometimes she tells me to calmdown. It makes me laugh.

I also believe that you need to bea more capable tennis player to begreat at doubles.● You’ve won big in women’s andmixed doubles. Which do youprefer?

Mixed doubles is more difficultbecause more teams can win. If youlook at Slams, you see some prettyweird teams winning the mixed.And that tells you a lot about thechemistry of mixed.

For me, Leander (Paes) is theboss. He can do whatever he wants.My job is to make sure I hold myown against the girl. I usually feel


wanted to get on Centre Courtagain. Being on that court tran-scends everything, it’s what being atennis player is all about. So then,to end up back there two years lat-er, winning the title, that wasn’t ic-ing on the cake. It was the cake.

By the way, I got a hunk of grassthis year, too. Just in case I don’tcome back. I won a final — I wasentitled, no?● Was there a special poignancy totying Billie Jean King’s record of 20Wimbledon titles?

That was never the idea. I readin USA Today that I came back be-cause I wanted to tie or beat BillieJean’s record, which wasn’t true.

I saw Billie at Wimbledon, andshe wished me luck. I didn’t see herafter that, but she called and left aphone message back in the U.S.congratulating me.

She’s very proud of that record,but if someone’s going to break it, Ithink she’d rather it was me. (Kingset the record in 1979 playing doubleswith Navratilova).● Did anyone set a standard for youin terms of longevity or dedicationto the game?

Billie’s passion for equality influ-enced me. That’s the most impor-tant thing in my life, being fair topeople.

But in tennis terms, the herowas Rod Laver because he playedtennis the way I think it should beplayed. He was such a great all-around player, and he was a lefty. IfI wanted to be like anyone, it wasLaver.● You’ve been outspoken on manysocial and political issues. Has yourworldview changed over the years?

Not really. I think that if any-thing, I’m more aware of animalsand I want to make a difference onthat front by being involved, notjust giving money. I support PETA.Sometimes they can go a little far,but nobody gets hurt and theirheart is in the right place.

I’ve also been involved with theSierra Club, the Humane Society,and an organisation called Save theRhino. I want to get involved in theEverglades restoration effort. I’vedriven through quite a bit of theEverglades, and it’s alarmingwhat’s going on.● I’m going to throw out two

words, give me your reaction: DixieChicks (the band whose public crit-icism of President George W. Bushtriggered a widespread boycott oftheir music).

Ha! I’ve talked about that a bit. Iwas upset when those DJs in Denvergot fired for playing their music. Isthis democracy? That’s oppression.It’s not as bad as it was in Czechos-lovakia, where if you bad-mouthedthe President you went to jail. Buthere, if you bad-mouth the Presi-dent you can get ostracisedfinancially.

Personal liberties are being eat-en away in the name of security.But hey, if you really want to besecure, you should never leave yourhouse. There’s always a chanceyou’ll get run over by a cab, or aterrorist.

We’ve also taken away toomuch personal responsibility. Thathas nothing to do with Bush, it’sjust our country. We’re too protec-tionist. There are places where youcan’t make a turn if you don’t havethe traffic arrow, even if it’s in themiddle of the night and there isn’tanyone within two miles of you.

Navratilova in a relaxed mood in Prague, Czech Republic. — Pic. GETTY IMAGES


Where’s the respect for personaljudgement?● When you look at the tour today,do you wish you were still playingsingles?

I wish I were playing againstsome of the top players. I was luckyenough to play with a few overlap-ping generations, from MargaretCourt to Martina Hingis. But to tellyou the truth, the way air travelhas been after the 9/11 attacks, I’mglad I don’t have to do it anymore.It used to be we would get to theairport half an hour before flighttime, get whisked through with VIPtreatment and that was it. Now it’sjust not as much fun.● About a year ago, you madesome remarks about the Williamssisters that some people took of-fence to and interpreted as racist.Did you find that ironic?

I don’t remember that incident.But if you criticise somebody who’swhite, people look at the criticism.But if you look at someone who’sblack with the same criticism,you’re racist. That’s bull. If youstart seeing it that way, you can’tsay anything critical about any-body. If someone criticises me, it’santi-gay and the person is just abigot. Well, I know some people arebigots, but I know I probably was ajerk plenty of times. I think I’mabout as colorblind as you can get.● Has this nation fulfilled yourhopes?

One thing that distresses me isthe way America has become theworld’s most hated nation. I can’tchange that, but it’s disappointingbecause it’s still a great country,even though we still leave so manybehind. There are so many unem-ployed, evicted, with no health in-surance. We can do better.

Tennis has given me everythingI could have dreamed of. Americahas given me everything I couldhave dreamed of in most cases, butalso less in some cases. There aresome areas, like gay rights, whereAmerica could be further ahead.We seem to be making some pro-gress, but we’re still behind most ofEurope and Canada.

Overall, though, it’s a slamdunk. ■ G

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