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Highest honor Navratilova gets Hall of Fame nod
Posted: Wednesday January 26, 2000 12:59 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Yet another title for Martina Navratilova: Hall of Famer. "Martina was the greatest all-around player to ever play our game," fellow Hall of Famer Billie Jean King said Tuesday at a news conference for the newest members of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. "She just did it all." There were 167 singles titles, 165 doubles crowns and 1,438 singles match wins -- all records, male or female. "An extraordinary record for an extraordinary person," said Jane Brown, president of the Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. Joining Navratilova on Tuesday in the tennis shrine were Australian Davis Cupper Malcolm Anderson and Robert Kelleher, who as president of the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association helped lead the fight for Open tennis. The three will be inducted July 15 in Newport. Navratilova's most lasting accomplishment might have been raising the athleticism of women in sports. "She brought women's tennis to another level," former Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna once said. "She was the first player to get into fitness and work out with weights. She played a different kind of game than anybody else, and she was so good and in such great shape. All the other players had to become better in order to compete." Navratilova retired from singles play in 1994. She recently got her pilot's license and did her first solo flight in November. She now works with gay and lesbian groups and speaks on behalf of animal rights. Navratilova is deeply grateful to tennis and says she wants to stay involved in the sport. "I've not given back as much as tennis has given to me," she said. In the age of baseline bashers, Navratilova ruled with a peerless serve-and-volley game. "They don't copy Martina because they can't," Kelleher said. "They don't volley that well. They don't serve that well."
She did both, winning 18 career Grand Slam tournament singles titles and teaming with Pam Shriver to win 109 consecutive doubles matches. In 1983, she posted a remarkable 86-1 record, her only loss coming in the French Open. The next year, she lost just twice. "Martina always wanted to get better, was always in the pursuit of excellence," said King, who teamed with Navratilova to win the Wimbledon doubles title in 1979 and later coached her. Navratilova also had winning streaks of 74, 58 and 54 matches. After losing to Hana Mandlikova on Jan. 15, 1984, to snap her 54-match string, she won the next 74, giving her a 128-1 record between the French Open in 1983 until the Australian Open in December 1984. "In that year and a half, I lost one match," Navratilova said. "That probably won't ever happen again." The Czech-born star defected to the United States during the 1975 U.S. Open. She became an American citizen in 1981 and won her first U.S. Open two years later. But it was on the grass courts of Wimbledon where she dominated, winning nine singles titles, including a record six straight from 1982-87. In 1994, she reached the title match at Wimbledon for the 13th and last time. Her rivalry with Chris Evert was among the greatest in sports. "She brought fresh new honesty to the game," said Evert, who had a 39-45 record against Navratilova. "She wore her heart on her sleeve and she was never afraid to speak out and say what she felt." Anderson, a willowy 6-foot-1 serve-and-volleyer, in 1957 became the first unseeded player to win the U.S. Championships. He won the French doubles in 1957, the Australian doubles in 1973 and the Australian mixed doubles in 1957, then turned pro in 1959. After the Open era, Anderson reached the Australian Open final in 1972.
Kelleher shepherded the United States into the Open era as USLTA president. Kelleher, now a judge in California, was captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1962-63.
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