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Czech-born American tennis legend, Martina Navratilova, announced at a news conference Thursday in Prague that she will compete in her first professional tournament in her homeland when she takes part in an WTA doubles tournament in the Czech capital at the start of May.
"I never played an international tournament here, apart from the Fed Cup in 1986, for the US. That's it. At that time there were no international tournaments here," she explained.
Navratilova, who will celebrate her 50th birthday in October, decided to quit the then communist Czechoslovakia in 1975 for the US. The communist regime regarded tennis as a "bourgeois sport" and tried to restrict players competing in tournaments in the West.
Her impressive tally of tournament trophies includes 58 Grand Slam titles, of which 18 were in singles competitions (nine Wimbledon, four US, three Australian and two Roland Garros), 31 in womens' doubles and nine in mixed doubles events.
Navratilova, currently practicing in the Czech Republic ahead of the May 8 to 14 tournament, has renounced the five-star hotel treatment to stay at the family home at Revnice, around 20 kilometres from Prague.
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Tennis-CZE-USA-Navratilova
AFP 161915 GMT 02 06
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