50-love: Passion fuels second career

NEW YORK -- A champion's soul can't be measured in numbers. But chew on these record stats: 1,442 singles wins, nine Wimbledon singles championships, 344 combined singles and doubles titles, 331 weeks at No.1.

And how about 50?

That's the chronological threshold Martina Navratilova, who retired for a second time at September's U.S. Open, crossed Oct.18.

In a career of extraordinary breadth and drama on and off the court, Navratilova has turned normal notions of longevity upside down, winning titles in her late 40s against competitors less than half her age.

She capped her unprecedented career in New York by winning her 59th Grand Slam title, in mixed doubles with Bob Bryan, and extending her record as the oldest player to win a major. "See, if you play long enough, good things happen," the svelte and bespectacled Navratilova said to fans. "I should know."

She should. When Navratilova could have been skiing at her former home in Aspen, Colo., piloting planes, playing ice hockey or co-authoring mystery novels -- all activities she pursued during her first retirement between 1995 and 2000 -- she dove back into pro tennis, compelled in a quest for the perfect shot.

"I hit a drop shot the other day, I was like, 'Ooh, I haven't hit that kind of a shot,'" says the Czech-born American, who won 13 doubles and three mixed titles the last six years. "It was a passing angle from the right side of the court, over the net. Drop volley. It was ridiculous."

About as ridiculous as winning tournaments when most people are receiving solicitations from the American Association of Retired Persons. But for Navratilova, her second career is rooted in an all-encompassing passion for the game.

"I love the game," she says. "It's a challenge to me, and it's interesting, it's intriguing, it's fascinating and I always try to figure out how to do it better."

"It's about her personal battle with the sport," says Michael de Jongh, who has coached Navratilova part time since she returned to competitive tennis. "It's not about proving to other people anything. That's why most people completely misunderstand why she came back."

No one saw this driving force up close better than Chris Evert, who built a storied rivalry with Navratilova over the course of 13 years and 60 matches.

"Athletes compete, then retire and go on to a real life," says Evert, now a mother of three boys who dominated the early part of their rivalry but trails lifetime 43-37. "This is her real life."

Inspiration to young and old

To grasp what has driven Navratilova, it helps to understand her winding path to tennis prominence.

Born behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia, Navratilova burst onto the pro circuit in the early 1970s as a plump, shy and mostly clueless teenager. During the next 25 years, she struggled to learn English, defected from her homeland and came out as a lesbian -- all while transforming herself into the greatest all-around player the sport has ever seen.

"She's the greatest singles, doubles and mixed-doubles player that has ever lived," Billie Jean King says.

A relentless, net-hugging southpaw, she captured 59 Grand Slam titles -- including a record-tying 20th at Wimbledon in 2003 -- while enlightening a whole generation of middle-age men and women about the limits of their physical capabilities.

"I just wanted to keep inspiring people, the way they inspired me, and sort of show people that you can do great things regardless of your age if you just believe and go for it," says Navratilova, whose nutrition book Eat to Win and the more recent Shape Your Self pass along the knowledge she's accumulated during 34 years as a professional.

Navratilova ushered in a power and athleticism that made off-court training a cornerstone of tennis. She was the first player to use physical conditioning as a competitive advantage.

"I've never seen any athlete work as hard as her," says Mike Estep, who coached Navratilova to 10 majors from 1983-86 and watched in awe as she followed his grueling four-hour on-court workouts with additional weight training and wind sprints.

"Martina made me realize more than any other champion in my career is that it's never enough," says longtime doubles partner Pam Shriver, who won 20 majors with Navratilova.

Trained her way to greatness

In some ways, the ultra-talented Navratilova was a late bloomer.

She won her first major at Wimbledon in 1978 at age 21 and repeated in 1979, but she hadn't even begun to tap into her potential. It wasn't until former basketball player Nancy Lieberman, her coach at the time, pointed out to the then-mid-20s Navratilova that the hourglass of her career was losing sand fast.

"I had a 'eureka!' moment," Navratilova says. "I didn't realize that I was coasting so much."

Once she started down that path, she says there was no turning back.

"When I started figuring it out, I wanted to figure it out all the way," Navratilova says. "You can't just try to hit a great tennis shot. You need to get to the ball so you can hit a great tennis shot. So that means training. And if you really want to train hard, you need to fuel your body. So that means eating well. It's all-encompassing."

When Navratilova first approached Estep about becoming her full-time coach, she was already a multiple-Grand Slam winner and No.1. It was 1983, and she was reeling from a devastating fourth-round loss to Kathleen Horvath at the French Open.

"Why do you need a coach?" Estep told her. "You're No.1 in the world. She said, 'Well, I've never won the Grand Slam. And, if possible, I'd like to be the greatest player that ever lived.'"

Estep looked at her and replied: "Those are reasonable goals."

Martina didn't lose another match in 1983, going 86-1.

Outspoken, uncompromising and intense, Navratilova's professional and personal lives became entwined in the public eye. Defecting at the U.S. Open in 1975 and coming out in the 1980s bought her freedom, but with it came a price: millions in lost endorsements.

But being open about her sexuality allowed her to pour more into her tennis. "I think being 'out' helped," says Navratilova, who lives with her partner of six years in Sarasota, Fla. "There was no hindrance. There was no energy wasted anywhere. I could put it all into whatever I was doing, which was tennis at the time, and I didn't have to look over my shoulder."

Obstacles -- leaving her home and family behind to seek political asylum, adapting to a new culture, coming to terms with her sexual orientation -- only fueled her desire to win. But it was the naysayers that kept her going.

"I always like a challenge," she says. "When people say, 'No, you can't do that,' I'm like, 'Oh, yes, I can.'"

Navratilova vows that she's played her last match, but that won't keep her from continuing her quest to stretch the boundaries of her talent.

"Whatever your limitations might be, don't let them define you," she says, recalling the skepticism she faced from her own father when she entered her first tournament. "When I first said I was going to play, my father said, 'Oh, no, you're going to end in the first round.' I lost in the second round.

"I was just going to keep going until I got everything out of myself."

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