Martina Navratilova was at one time the number one tennis player worldwide. Ms. Navratilova was born in Czechoslavakia on the 18th day of October, 1956, her first coach was Miroslav Navratil, her stepfather,and she became a United States citizen in 1981. Martina, at the young age of 15 years, was the champion of tennis in the national Czech republic. By 17, she had won her first single championship in the United States, at a match in Orlando, Florida. In 1975, Martina Navratilova turned professional.

In 1975 she played and became a finalist in the Grand Slam singles tournament, although she was beaten by Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the Australian Open and by Chris Evert in the French Open that year. In addition, she lost the US open semi finals in 1975; however, that made her even more determined to obtain her green card. Fortunately, 1978 was a better year and after beating Chris Evert in the Grand Slam singles at Wimbleton, Martina obtained her worldwide championship title.

It was due to Martina’s aggression and supremacy on the Court that the standard for tennis competition grew by leaps and bounds. Because she was slightly overweight early in her career, one of her initial obstacles was getting fit to play the game. Fortunately, a basketball player by the name of Nancy Lieberman encouraged her to attain this goal. She created an intense exercise regime in order to increase her personal fitness. The fact that she began using graphite racquets was probably paramount in her ability to reign supreme as a tennis player.

In 1981, she proved her prowess by beating Chris Evert for the second time in the Grand Slam singles of the Australian Open. The year after that, in 1982, Martina Navratilova won both the French Open and Wimbledon Open championships. Continuing in this fashion, in 1983, Martina won best three out of four of the Grand Slam Events.

She surpassed every other tennis player and obtained the greatest winning percentage of any professional tennis player. In 1984, Martina proved her supremacy by winning the French Open Grand Slam, a great personal victory over her loss there in 1983. Philippe Chatrier, president of the International Tennis Federation, was so impressed with Navratilova’s victory that he dubbed it the Grand Slam. At the height of her career, Martina Navratilova only lost six singles matches in 2 years, i.e., from 1982 – 1984.

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Modern tennis has gone through many changes, and the 1980s were the years that served as the transition for this. Racquets quickly went from wooden ones to graphite ones, and much more happened as well.

Let’s take a look back at the classic decade for the sport by remembering some of the most entertaining tennis players from the decade. These are all based on my personal favorites, and not based on who I thought was best. Anyway, here goes.

The early 1980s were dominated by Bjorn Borg before his early retirement. At the top of his game, he was undoubtedly the best in the world and one of the best to ever play the sport.

Next on my list is Stefan Edberg, whose career began in the 1980s and lasted into the 1990s. The Swedish net player was one of the best volleyers in the history of the sport, and one of the last pure volleyers as well.

Boris Becker. Ah, the jump serve. Becker popularized this method of serving in the 1980s, and just about everyone I knew tried to emulate it in their own way. Becker was a true warrior on the tennis court, and I’m a big fan of what he did for the sport.

Ivan Lendl was one of the steadiest players to ever play the sport. His career was a storied won, with a handful of grand slam wins and even more tournament victories. Lendl’s baseline play was downright scary.

1. John McEnroe. What can you say about Mac? His charisma, his hustle, and everything else that he did on the court is legendary. To see him as a commentator through his retirement is simply a delight. I was shocked to see how well he plays when I saw him play at a senior tour event.

It was hard to narrow this list down to just five, as there are many others I could have mentioned. How do these players compare to yours?

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