Martina Navratilova Czech Tennis player		Articles/Text Photos Add info
When Martina Navratilova retired from singles in 1994 she had won 167 singles titles including a record nine at Wimbledon. Her victory in the 1995 Wimbledon mixed doubles extended her total of Wimbledon titles to 19, one short of Billie Jean King's record. In 1978 she began a relationship with Rita Mae Brown (1944 - ), an American activist and writer, but the publicity made her resign as head of the Women's Tennis Association. She later had an affair with Judy Nelson and gained admiration by routinely climbing into the crowd at tennis matches to snog her lover after winning games. She stepped up her campaigning for lesbian and gay rights and spoke at the march on Washington DC in April 1993. She also filed a law suit against the enactment of the homophobic Amendment 2 in Colorado which bans legal protection for lesbians and gays in the fields of housing and employment. Shortly after her 1994 retirement from singles, Adam Sweeting, The Guardian television critic said in an BBC tribute to Martina: "Talking openly about her lesbianism has cost her lucrative sponsorships, but it has made her a beacon of courageous independence, visible far beyond the money-mad treadmill of world tennis. Snag is, she's probably too extraordinary to be a role model." In an article in 'The Sunday Times' in 1996, Martina said: "'Sexual preference is not a problem for people who watch the matches, it's the marketing people who think differently. You are dead if you admit you are gay or bisexual. It's okay for a singer, but not for an athlete."