The Miami Open was covered by Tennis Channel on Tuesday, less than three months after Martina Navratilova revealed she had breast and throat cancer.
“It’s great to be back. … Thrilled to be here,” said the 18-time Grand Slam singles champion and member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. “So happy to be working. How many people can say that?”
Navratilova, 66, claimed that while receiving cancer treatment, she lost 15 pounds and her sense of taste vanished. Neither the BNP Paribas Open this month nor the Australian Open in January saw her on television.
“It puts you face-to-face with your mortality, No. 1, because at the beginning, I wasn’t sure if it was treatable, so that was hard,” she said. “But once I got into the program, it was a little easier emotionally, but more difficult physically. … But I’m still standing.”
Doctors have informed Navratilova that, “as far as they know, I’m cancer-free,” and they expect her to be “good to go” following some additional radiation treatment, she said in an interview with Piers Morgan that will air on TalkTV on Tuesday.
According to The Sun newspaper, Navratilova also told Morgan that when she was diagnosed, “I was in a total panic for three days, thinking I may not see next Christmas” and came up with a bucket list of things she wanted to do.
While watching the season-ending WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, in November, she noticed an enlarged lymph node in her neck. A biopsy revealed that she had early-stage throat cancer. Navratilova claimed that the unrelated, early-stage breast cancer was found while she was having throat tests.
In 2010, Navratilova received a noninvasive breast cancer diagnosis, leading to a lumpectomy.
In total, she amassed 59 Grand Slam victories, including 10 in mixed doubles and 31 in women’s doubles. The most recent came a month before her 50th birthday in 2006, when she won the mixed doubles title at the U.S. Open with Bob Bryan.
After a record 167 singles victories and 331 weeks at the top of the WTA rankings, Navratilova initially announced her retirement in 1994. In 2000, she made a comeback to the tour to play doubles, and she also occasionally played singles.
…good for her…I hope she recovers…
I met Navratilova in a café in Aspen when I was an FBI Agent tracking a fugitive. I identified myself so she wouldn’t think I was some crazed fan and she was very nice. She had impressive shoulders and arms and I couldn’t resist telling her how much I loved watching her play against Evert and others. She was without any doubt the dominant female player of her era. Since her diagnosis I have prayed for her complete recovery and now there is hope my prayers were answered. Women’s sports needs Martina to continue calling out the leftists imbeciles who support the destruction of women’s sports with their insane transgender nonsense.
Avoid praying, religion is one of the causes of cancer…