And perhaps, just perhaps, the challenges she faced as a young girl growing up in Czechoslovakia made the challenges she faced -- and conquered -- in life and in the world of sports seem so ordinary, so mundane and so easy.
The first challenge was growing up with the fact that her father committed suicide. She coped with that by throwing herself into sports at a time when girls were being taught to be homemakers, not athletes.
But in nearly everything she competed in -- including hockey, soccer and skiing -- she matched right up with the macho boys in her suburb of Revnice.
"I'm not very psychologically oriented and I have no idea how I was affected by my real father's abandonment, the secrets and the suicide, or my feeling about being a misfit, a skinny little tomboy with short hair," she would later write in her autobiography. "In Czechoslovakia, nobody ever put me down for running around with boys, playing ice hockey and soccer."
BUT IT WASN'T HOCKEY or soccer that motivated this young girl. It was tennis. Her grandmother, you see, had been on the country's national team before the war and her mother and stepfather were tennis administrators for the government. She used to watch her parents play the game and eventually, her stepfather realized the talent lurking in her and took over as her first coach. Her mother, however was her inspiration.
"I learned my lesson from my mother at an early age: sports are good for young women. It's good to compete, good to run, good to sweat, good to get dirty, good to feel tired and healthy and refreshed. We had no idea of tomboys -- there's no word for it in the Czech language. Women played sports and had families and jobs," she wrote. "That simple. My mother was my role model."
When she was 8 years old, she entered her first tennis tournament and reached the semifinals. Six years later, she won her first national tournament. And two years after that, well, she was simply the best female player in her nation.
BECAUSE SHE WAS SO GOOD, she went on tour to other countries and in 1973, she visited the United States. She didn't do so well that year -- she dropped the match the first time she played then No. 1 Chris Evert. But the following year she asserted herself on the world stage by winning the Australian Open.
In 1975, it was a time for another major challenge that resulted in a life-changing decision. She was almost 19 and could see that her career would not flourish as much in Czechoslovakia as it would in a place like America. So she defected, even if it meant not being able to see her parents or her sister again.
Flourish is not the word for what happened to her game. Simply put, it went to a level never witnessed in the sport. She began by winning singles tournaments but still could not put the icing on the cake by winning a Grand Slam event. Finally, in 1978 she broke through by winning at Wimbledon. Two years later, she was the leading money-earner on the women's tour. And in 1981, she became a U.S. citizen.
In the ensuing years, she was faced with perhaps what was her last challenge -- but while the issue has been a gut-wrencher for many, to her it was simply a matter of fact. It had to do with her sexual orientation.
"I NEVER THOUGHT THERE WAS anything strange about being gay. Even when I thought about it, I never panicked and thought, Oh, I'm strange, I'm weird, what do I do now?" she wrote in her book.
In many quarters of the nation other gay people in her situation were struggling to cope with an unsympathetic public, but she simply moved on and continued to win tournament after tournament.
You know this person well. And whether or not you agree with her lifestyle, you simply must admit one thing: When it comes to women's tennis, there was no greater player than Martina Navratilova.
WEBVIEWER MAIL: Got a trivia question that you think will stump the ol' Irishman -- or a gripe about sports or some particular incident -- just email me and I will try to include it in my next column. All ya gotta do is click here.
Yo, Irishme! Can you tell me who made the longest shot in NBA history?
-- From Rodger at a nixy kind of net.
Rodg on that Rodger. It was Norm Van Lier with the Chicago Bulls on Jan. 19, 1977. He nailed one from 84 feet.
Help! I am trying to find out if NFL great Fran Tarkenton was a first-round draft pick.
-- From Shelly at an AOL house.
No, he was not a first-rounder, kiddo. Fran, who played college ball at Georgia, was taken in the third round in 1961 by the Vikings. He was later dished to the New York Giants in 1967, but then came back to Minnesota in 1972 where he shined.
Hey, Irishman. How are ya? What did you think about that Albert Belle gambling thing?
-- From a Dan-dy guy who just loves his MCImail.
I think it's another example of how baseball nowadays caters to its superstars. A few years ago, Lenny Dykstra was suspended for the same thing. And everyone knows what happened to Pete Rose. But you watch, they will -- at most -- slap Belle on the wrist because he puts people in the seats and wins games. Until they name a real baseball commissioner, this sort of junk is going to be allowed.
Can anything be done to help Lawrence Phillips?
-- From Dick Vermeil, who has now taken over the Ram.com
Mr. Vermeil, yes there is something you can do. You can help show him the door and tell him to try and make a living in the real world with his attitude. It's bad enough when you have superstars acting like this, but when you have a young, unproven back like Phillips doing it, well, something is wrong with that person that I doubt even Dr. Joyce Brothers could help.
1) How many singles and doubles tournaments did she win before retiring on the tour? A) 200; B) 280; C) 340; D) 550. Give up?
2) When did she retire from the game? Give up?
3) What city does she now call home? Give up?
4) How many times did she win the singles title at Wimbledon? Give up?
5) What is she doing now in the world of women's tennis? Give up?
BONUS QUESTION: What was the name of her lover who took her to court in the highly publicized "galimony" case? Give up?
Mike Emmett has been kicking around sports departments in newspapers and online operations around the U.S. for years. Got something to say to the Irishman? Email him with a click here.
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