Guardian interview,
'Martina Navratilova: 'I want to save lives'
Martina Navratilova's breast cancer revelation is the latest in a long line of very public battles. She tells Julie Bindel why she is speaking out'
(extract)
"So what was behind her decision to go public with the illness? "I want to save lives by telling women to go for the test, and be vigilant, but there is a cost to me, for sure. Last week I did 20 interviews straight and the following evening, when I played tennis, I was exhausted – but it was emotional, not physical, exhaustion.
"I need to pace myself – I don't want [the illness] coming back because I got so stressed trying to raise awareness. Sometimes things bunch up and get out of control, as it has this week, but I have a vacation coming."
The Recap: sign up for the best of the Guardian's sport coverage
Read more
Now that Navratilova has gone public, she is bound to be contacted by women asking for support. How does she feel about that?
"I will do it, of course, but it's not easy. I spoke to Robin Roberts, the anchor on Good Morning America, who is a really good friend of mine. She had breast cancer three years ago, and had chemo and the works. I asked her how she deals with it, and she admitted the problem is you can't get away from it. Doing all these interviews, I get asked, 'How did you feel when you found out? How do you feel now?' – you can't escape it."
The world's most famous out lesbian, the most successful female tennis player of all time, is in the UK at the invitation of the gay rights organisation Stonewall. Last night, she delivered the keynote speech at its annual dinner and auction, alongside Gareth Thomas, the first out professional rugby player. This year's theme is homophobia in sport, an issue Navratilova knows a lot about.
"It hardly occurs to anyone that sportsmen are gay," she says, "but with women they almost have to prove they are straight. A journalist would never dare ask a male athlete, unless they were a figure skater, 'Are you gay?' But it is OK to ask a female tennis player."
I ask what can be done to encourage more sporting icons to come out. "Change has to come from the top. They don't allow antisemitic rants or whatever racist bullshit to be shouted from the stands, and they should not allow the homophobic stuff – but it seems like it is zero tolerance of all other bigoted crap, and 95% tolerance of anti-gay stuff."
However, the UK, she says, is "way ahead" of the US in tackling homophobia. We talk about the fact that Stonewall has support from the three main political parties, and she tells me she is "amazed . . . It would never happen in the States. The Republicans treat us like lepers."
I tell her how important her coming out in 1981 was for lesbians at the time. She was the first decent role model we had, and remains one of a chosen few almost three decades later. Does it feel like a responsibility?
"Of course it is. I am a role model for kids who look up to me, and to the game. [In all, Navratilova has won nine Wimbledon singles titles amid a mind-boggling total of 59 grand slam titles.] But then I do something that the press picks up on, and straight people say, 'Oh, that's what those dykes are like.'" (continues)
Is she a feminist? "Of course! How can a woman not be? If a woman says she is not, I say to her, 'So you want to be paid just 70% of what the guys are for the same job?' Then she says no, and I say, 'So you're a feminist.' Feminism is about equal rights, no more. I just don't want it to be an issue. Full stop. Period. We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go."
What is it that made her such a political person? "I think, originally, it came from being told what to do and what I was supposed to be while growing up in a communist country." (Navratilova defected from Czechoslovakia to the US in 1975, but visits her sister and her two children there often.) "I have always had a disdain for authority and stupid rules that make no sense, and I still do. I always question authority – always have, always will."
Partly because of this, Navratilova has experienced more than her fair share of hostility from the crowds. I recall one Wimbledon when she played Chris Evert, the heterosexual, feminine, all-American girl who seemed such a sharp contrast to Navratilova's ambiguous sexuality, big muscles and eastern-European scowl.
"Oh yes," she says, "It was tough. If I complained about a line call, ooh they got on my case immediately. It didn't take much. Imagine them booing Federer or Nadal, or any guy really, if they complained? No frickin' way."
Yet now, she laughs, "I can't do anything wrong. Over here [in the UK], I could run for office and win. People are like, 'Oh, Martina!' I have a whole new class of fans I didn't know I had." (Some, of course, the result of her 2008 appearance on I'm a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here!)
Out of the blue, she asks, sort-of tongue-in-cheek (but with Navratilova you never can tell), "Say, when am I gonna get knighted or whatever it is?" Would she like to be Lady Martina, then? "Who wouldn't?" (continues)
www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/apr/15/want-save-lives-martina-navratilova