Navratilova Quotes & Sayings

If it feels right in your gut, this is who you are, this is what you do, this is what you feel, then don't hide that. You just stick to it and the world will catch up. — Martina Navratilova

No matter where I go, I always make friends at the bridge table — Martina Navratilova

Sure I know where the press room is - I just look for where they throw the dog meat. — Martina Navratilova

I am not looking for perfection. I look for the best in me. — Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova said in the early '90s that Seles would inspire the players of the future to also use two-handed forehands. That didn't happen, but she is responsible for the all-out aggression with which most of the top players play. All the low trajectory shots hit with just moderate amounts of spin and traveling into the corners like heat-seeking missiles? You guessed it, Monica's to blame. — Dave McPherson

Lady' is an opinion; 'woman' is a fact. — Martina Navratilova

Life is about challenges and how we face up to them and the attitude we take into every day life so hopefully we'll be able to motivate people to do more with their life. — Martina Navratilova

In Czechoslovakia there is no such thing as freedom of the press. In the United States there is no such thing as freedom from the press. — Martina Navratilova

There is no cheap way to achieve the ability to turn pro in tennis; it unfortunately is more expensive than team sports. — Martina Navratilova

The only people that really have a chance against Serena [Williams] are people that are strong, that can handle her power that move well, and that's a difficult combination. — Martina Navratilova

Security used to be an inconvenience sometimes, but now it's a necessity all the time. — Martina Navratilova

I'm an American. You can't go on where you were born. If you do then John McEnroe would be a German. — Martina Navratilova

If I feel strongly, I say it. I know I can do more good by being vocal than by staying quiet. I'd have a whole lot more money if I lied, but I wouldn't enjoy spending it. — Martina Navratilova

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

The more people come out, the less it will be an issue. — Martina Navratilova

The moment of victory is too short to live for that alone. — Martina Navratilova

People who are rich want to be richer, but what's the difference? The toys get different, that's all. The rich guys buy a football team, the poor guys buy a football. It's all relative. — Martina Navratilova

I'm not involved in tennis but committed. — Martina Navratilova

The fewer mistakes you make twice, the easier life is. — Martina Navratilova

Everything you do today impacts the next day as well as the future. — Martina Navratilova

The whole idea of image is so confused. On the one hand, Madison Avenue is worried about the image of the players in a tennis tour. On the other hand, sports events are often sponsored by the makers of junk food, beer, and cigarettes. What's the message when an athlete who works at keeping her body fit is sponsored by a sugar-filled snack that does more harm than good? — Martina Navratilova

Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone. — Martina Navratilova

On Chris Evert: Before I even met her, she stood for everything I admired in this country: poise, ability, sportsmanship, money, style. — Martina Navratilova

I know some of my self-worth comes from tennis, and it's hard to think of doing something else where you know you'll never be thebest. Tennis players are rare creatures: where else in the world can you know that you're the best? The definitiveness of it is the beauty of it, but it's not all there is to life and I'm ready to explore the alternatives. — Martina Navratilova

It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't. — Martina Navratilova

You don't have to be pretty for people to come and see you play. At the same time, if you're a good athlete, it doesn't mean you're not a woman. — Martina Navratilova

Changes made to please others are unrealistic, but more important, they're unfair to you. — Martina Navratilova

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

I have always had this outrage at being told what to, how to act, whom to love. — Martina Navratilova

The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else. — Martina Navratilova

With a tennis racket strapped tightly to her hiking pack, Martina Navratilova began her ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro. The tennis legend had visions of celebrating at the summit of Africa's highest peak by hitting a couple balls to see how far they might fly in the thin air at 19,341 feet. — Don Yaeger

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

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. — Martina Navratilova

Sport doesn't know barriers, really. You are judged on your performance ... how far you can jump, how fast you can run, how well you can hit a tennis ball. — Martina Navratilova

Somewhere out there are a few men with more innate talent at golf than Jack Nicklaus, or women with greater ability at tennis than Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova, but they will never lift a club or swing a racket and therefore will never find out how great they could have been. Instead, they'll be content to sit and watch stars perform on television. — Donald Trump

I've been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career. — Martina Navratilova

Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people. — Martina Navratilova

I just try to concentrate on concentrating. — Martina Navratilova

I hit some great shots in my lifetime; now I hit a decent shot and I get a standing ovation. — Martina Navratilova

Sachin was so focused. He never looked like getting out. He was batting with single-minded devotion. It was truly remarkable. It was a lesson. — Martina Navratilova

Tennis has given me soul. — Martina Navratilova

What planet are you living on? Who are you trying to convince - me or yourself. — Martina Navratilova

Variety is what I would recommend: As variety is the spice of life in food, so it is in exercise. Change it up. But most of all, don't overdo it. — Martina Navratilova

I've been talking to Martina [Hingis] about playing for a couple of years. Maybe I can convince her to play some doubles. — Martina Navratilova

Being blunt with your feelings is very American. In this big country, I can be as brash as New York, as hedonistic as Los Angeles, as sensuous as San Francisco, as brainy as Boston, as proper as Philadelphia, as brawny as Chicago, as warm as Palm Springs, as friendly as my adopted home town of Dallas, Fort Worth, and as peaceful as the inland waterway that rubs up against my former home in Virginia Beach. — Martina Navratilova

Once you start believing in yourself, anything is possible. Once you start believing in yourself, your dreams take shape. The more you believe, the more you achieve. — Martina Navratilova

I've been active in animal rights and all kinds of environmental stuff and children's charities over the years. — Martina Navratilova

Every few years, in the world of sport, someone ascends to the most rarefied of all levels - the one at which it becomes news not when they win, but when they lose. It must have been like that in the early Fifties, when a tubby Italian called Alberto Ascari was stitching together nine Grand Prix wins in a row, a record not even Fangio, Clark or Senna could match. Or when the great Real Madrid side of Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas won the first five European Cup finals, between 1956 and 1960. Or when Martina Navratilova dominated Wimbledon's Centre Court, winning nine ladies' singles titles in thirteen years. The current Australian cricket team is in just such a run at present, having just completed nine consecutive victories, putting them four wins away from establishing an all-time record. And then there is Tiger Woods. — Richard Williams

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

I haven't bought any leather articles for a very long time. My ideal is to be able to avoid all animal products, in food as well as clothing. — Martina Navratilova

The goal for the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation is to give kids an opportunity to be involved in sports and hopefully learn some lessons along the way. We want to put them in a safe environment, help them if they need it and maybe they will get a scholarship to a school because of the skills that they learn. Sport is just a starting point. — Martina Navratilova

What I would tell girls coming up is just be yourself and don't let people get in the way. — Martina Navratilova

I would have drunk a lot of Pinot Grigio if I'd lost after leading 5-2 in the third. — Martina Navratilova

I think retirement beats the heck out of life after death, that's for sure. — Martina Navratilova

The decision to retire was quite an easy one for me because by that stage my knees were so badly gone. If I had been like Martina Navratilova and my body had let me I would have carried on playing a lot longer. — Jo Durie

I'm not a one-sex person, and yet I hate the term bisexual. It sounds creepy to me, and I don't think I'm creepy. There are times when I feel downright romantic. — Martina Navratilova

Just go out there and do what you have to do. — Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova is not a 'girl,' nor is Debi Thomas or Katarina Witt, and the women skaters weren't 'cute' in 1988. The problem with describing women as girls is that they never grow up and therefore can't take positions of authority in the world of sport. But the good news is that you can change language, so ultimately you can change the picture of women in sports. — Anita DeFrantz

The better I get, the more I realize how much better I can get. — Martina Navratilova

The longer I stay in the States, the more I understand how important it is to smile and seem like a nice guy. Like Ronald Reagan. Your image seems to count more than what you do. — Martina Navratilova

Just by being out you're doing your part. It's like recycling. You're doing your part for the environment if you recycle; you're doing your part for the gay movement if you're out. — Martina Navratilova

I hope, when I stop, people will think that somehow I mattered. — Martina Navratilova

Keeping a journal of what's going on in your life is a good way to help you distill what's important and what's not. — Martina Navratilova

Concentration is born on the practice court ... you must mentally treat your practice sessions as matches, concentrating on every ball you hit. — Martina Navratilova

This is reality, not a dream. — Martina Navratilova

Just go out there and do what you've got to do. — Martina Navratilova

When one man becomes more important than the country he's supposed to be leading, this will always create a problem. — Martina Navratilova

You can't live in the past, there's nothing you can do about it. — Martina Navratilova

I needed to refocus and get my act together. — Martina Navratilova

All top players are the same strokewise, but mentally I can improve and that's where it's at for top players. — Martina Navratilova

What matters isn't how well you play when you're playing well. What mattersis how well you play when you're playing badly.'
- Martina Navratilova — Harsha Bhogle

I just could never have imagined that I would be mentioned with Chris Evert or with Martina Navratilova, because I was just a kid with a dream and a racquet. Living in Compton, this never happened before. — Serena Williams

Losing still hurts, but that's good. When it stops hurting, that's when I stop playing. — Martina Navratilova

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! — Martina Navratilova

Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path. Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back. — Martina Navratilova

I came to live in a country I love; some people label me a defector. I have loved men and women in my life; I've been labeled the bisexual defector. Want to know another secret? I'm even ambidextrous. I don't like labels. Just call me Martina. — Martina Navratilova

Who ever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost. — Martina Navratilova

People in the States used to think that if girls were good at sports their sexuality would be affected. — Martina Navratilova