Subscribe Shop Travel Stories ... sports : Martina Navratilova: Hitting 40 Love Martina Navratilova: Hitting 40 Love Written by: Diane Anderson-Minshall Order this Issue of Curve: Martina Navratilova passes 40, finds till death do us part love, and makes a million bucks for dyke charities. Sports fans know Martina Navratilova for her 25 years of grinding tennis play. She holds the womens all-time record for singles championships. In the mid-1980s, she was the top ranking female tennis player for all but a few weeks. She dominated Wimbledon, winning six consecutive singles titles, four U.S. Open singles championships, and scores of doubles titles. In 1992, Navratilova won her 158th professional tennis title at the Virginia Slims and set a record for career singles championships. The next year, she toppled Monica Seles in the Paris Open and established yet another record, becoming the oldest person to beat a No. 1 player in professional tennis. Now, almost a decade later, Navratilovas championship numbers have continued to rise on the courts even in her semiretirement but times have changed and people are flocking more often to see upstarts like Venus Williams rule the court. Navratilovas fan base, however, has continued to grow broadened from the sports aficionados to a whole new generation of young women, progressive men, and queer activists who are energized by her pro-female advertising, dyke visibility, and earnest fund-raising for gay and lesbian causes. Spread across America are also the newest fans the little old ladies who know her only as the woman from the Subaru commercial. Thats OK with the muscle-bound, Czech-born legend. She too has changed. Gone are the heady days and turbulent relationships that made tabloid headlines (Judy Nelson, Rita Mae Brown). Shes just an average over-40 lesbian with a lifetime companion and a couple of dogs who keep her on her toes. (The dog is not quite capable of listening to commands, she groans, stopping the interview to scold.) Nowadays, shes as likely to talk about Golda Meir (the Russian-born former prime minister of Israel) or Shannen Dohertys role on Charmed as she is to discuss the intricacies of the U.S. Open. (Just dont get her started on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) | |
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