Martina Navratilova

Tennis Player

143 Quotes

I'm 58 years old. I got married for the first time - it's about time, right? Growing up as a gay woman, you just don't ever think about that, and then I thought, about 10 years ago, 'You know, I think within 10 years gay marriage will be legal.' And here we are, 10 years later, making it legal.

The tennis ball doesn't know how old I am. The ball doesn't know if I'm a man or a woman or if I come from a communist country or not. Sport has always broken down these barriers.

When you make a lot of money, it just means you made a lot of money. It doesn't make you a better person.

We're criminalizing economic inability to stay out of the system. Women get penalized more than men for the same crime; blacks get penalized more than whites for the same crime. We need to bring out more into the light, because it's not fair... I applaud Colin Kaepernick for speaking out.

My worst memory is of my first dance lesson as a 14-year old in Prague. My mother put me in this silver and pink lame dress. My hair was all curled, and it was the first time I wore a garter belt. I felt so out of place!

The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.

I can teach many sports, but obviously, tennis is the one. When you do other sports, you see things from different perspectives: different footwork drills, body positions, angles and geometry. All that stuff is helpful, and so when I do other sports, I can see things, because once you know one sport, then the other sport becomes more clear.

You can have a coach for five or six years, and eventually, that coach has so little new to say. So get somebody else to give a different point of view. Somebody will see something I don't see and vice versa. You evolve with your game and your coaches.

I am healthy. I have been blessed with a very good body, and I have worked hard at it. I had surgery on my toe, and I'm still recovering from that. That's the only joint that was hurting. Earlier, I had a knee replacement, hip replacement, shoulder surgeries, but I have been lucky. I don't feel any pain when I play.

I just wanted to play tennis. It wasn't a job. It was an ambition. I knew I could make money at it. I was 18 - old enough to think I could do it, young enough not to consider the consequences.

Playing tennis, I didn't tie in my self-worth into winning or losing matches.

The Czech tennis federation wasn't holding me back, but they could still pull the plug anytime they wanted.

I think the key is for women not to set any limits.

I think we will have full marriage rights in Colorado. But in 1992, there was a very hateful Amendment 2 that basically made it legal for any institution to deny gays and lesbians access, whether it's hospitals or restaurants or employment. Anybody could fire you or not let you in a restaurant because you were gay.

I've given many lessons in many sports over the years to many different people.

For six years, I was really on my own and did not have a coach.

I shouldn't say I'm looking forward to leading a normal life, because I don't know what normal is.

You can have a coach for five or six years, and eventually, that coach has so little new to say. So get somebody else to give a different point of view. Somebody will see something I don't see and vice versa. You evolve with your game and your coaches.

Gender is irrelevant. Certainly the tennis ball doesn't know what the gender was of the tennis coach.

The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are their worst.

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