Navratilova’s tireless defiance

Martina Navratilova has always blazed her own trail, said Matthew Futterman in The New York Times. Growing up in communist Czechoslovakia, the tennis legend hated being unable to speak her mind—or to tell anyone that she was a lesbian. And so, during the 1975 U.S. Open in New York, she defected to America. Outed as gay in 1981 by a sports journalist, she began appearing in public with girlfriends and living the life she’d always wanted. “I didn’t have to worry anymore,” says Navratilova, 64. “I didn’t have to censor myself.” Around the same time, she began cross-training: playing basketball, lifting weights, and sprinting daily at a track. Her game became fiercer and she began racking up wins—she has 18 Grand Slam singles titles and 59 in all, the last won in 2006 at age 49. Her success on the court was matched by her growing assertiveness off it. Navratilova became an outspoken advocate of gay rights, but in recent years has received blowback from LGBTQ campaigners for arguing that trans athletes should undergo transition surgery before competing in women’s sports. She shrugs off the criticism. “I lived behind the Iron Curtain. You really think you are going to be able to tell me to keep my mouth shut?”