On the latest episode of the Rex Chapman Show with Josh Hopkins,
the guys are joined by legendary tennis icon Martina
Navratilova who was a fixture in the sport for 5 decades.
Throughout her life, beginning in the former Soviet controlled
Czechoslovakia, activism is critical to her and giving a voice to
the voiceless, in search of equality for all. You can follow
Martina Navratilova on Twitter and Instagram. 6:00 -
Martina's relationship with Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy
Lieberman and how she took to training like a basketball player,
playing pickup basketball along the way. It was that training that
unlocked her potential to become the best player in the world. 9:30
- In light of mental health which has been so important to athletes
today, we've come a long way from when Martina faced one of the
hardest challenges of her life, leaving her home country and
her parents behind. 12:30 - Martina says one of the most
disappointing parts of her life is people constantly trying to
undercut her, saying her dedication and hard work was just the
results of steroids, or she was just some kind of robot. 14:30 -
Martina describes what made Chris Evert such a great athlete, who
would have excelled at any sport because of her mental fortitude.
16:45 - At the age of 12, Martina lived through the Prague Spring,
when the Soviet Union felt threatened against an independant
Czechoslovakia and sent soldiers in to prevent any form of
democracy to develop. 21:30 - When Martina was told by her
government that her tennis career was making her grow too close to
a Western type of lifestyle, she knew she would have to defect in
fear of never being able to leave again. 23:30 - Martina's first US
tournament was where she resides today in Fort Lauderdale and the
first thing she remembers was the big cars, and the coconuts
growing on the trees. Everything was so just eye-opening and all
she wanted to do was share what she saw with her family. 32:00 -
It's been 40 years since Martina was outed. It was something she
had to be quiet about as she was awaiting to get her US
citizenship. In light of Billie Jean King's outing there was
pressure from Tennis not to say anything in fear of losing
sponsors. 41:30 - Martina thought about what life would be like
with Twitter and now we have a generation that grew up not knowing
what life was like without social media. Girls will continue to
have more scrutiny than men, especially in a world where everyone
is judged on a constant basis. Learn more about your ad choices.
Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices