Latest Martina News
January to June 1999
June 24, 1999: As part of a pre-millennium package, Reuters is issuing a weekly series examining notable sporting dates in the 20th century. Each week they will also run brief profiles of two of the century's outstanding sports personalities. For this week, Martina is one of the athletes selected. For the profile, click here
June 22, 1999: The "Evening Standard Online" has an article up, regarding Martina's comments on the equal prize money issue, made during her appearance on "On Side" on BBC1. For the complete article, click here. "Sky Sports Online" also has a brief article, focusing mainly on Martina's comments on Hingis, made during the same interview. For more on that, click here.
June 21, 1999: Martina appeared on the BBC1 sports chat show "On Side", hosted by John Inverdale. I was unable to watch the show, but was able to get most of the details, which you can find here. My special thanks to Mark Newman, Henny and Double Fault from the WTA Tour Web Board for the info.
June 21, 1999: Martina's picks for the Wimbledon titles? Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.
June 20, 1999: The 1978 Wimbledon final between Martina and Chris Evert has been ranked #24 by "The Times" (of the United Kingdom) in their countdown of the top 50 Stories of the Sporting Century. For the complete article, click here.
June 17, 1999: The HBO website is up. Martina will be one of the expert commentators for HBO television during the Wimbledon fortnight. Fans can send questions to Martina here.
June 12, 1999: According to the "Radio Prague" website, Martina played in an mixed doubles exhibition match at the Stromovka Courts in Prague today. Together with Jan Kodes, they defeated Jiri Hrebec and Helena Sukova 9-6. Martina was the firm crowd favourite, it seems. Afterwards, Martina quipped "Is it over so quickly? I wanted to continue playing for another hour!" Martina and Jan reached the mixed doubles semifinals at Wimbledon in 1975, and the quarterfinals in 1973.
June 11, 1999: Martina was featured in TIME magazine's special edition on the Heroes and Icons of the Twentieth Century. The issue is dated 14 June, 1999, Vol. 153, No. 23. She was chosen as one of the three women who rocked the World of Sport (along with Babe Didrikson-Zaharias and Althea Gibson). Click here to read the article.
May 18, 1999: The Legends Tour announced that some of the players will participate along with the senior men in the Great American Insurance Seniors Championships in Mason, Ohio, August 5-7. Unfortunately, Martina will not be participating here L Pam Shriver, speaking in Cincinnati had this to say about Martina, "Martina is spending a lot of time in Europe and Africa. [She] is still amazing. She'll go two months, not play and then pick up a racket for like four hours total
and still play great. Nobody should be that gifted!"
May 11, 1999: According to the "Los Angeles Times", Martina was present at the premiere of "The Mummy" in Universal City, California. She also attended the post-premiere party outside the Universal Amphitheatre.
Other party attendees included the film's stars, Brendan Fraser, John Hannah and Arnold Vosloo, producers Sean Daniel and James Jacks, and writer-director Stephen Sommers, as well as Universal execs Ron Meyer and Stacey
Snider, and Ice Cube, Jason Patric and Powers Boothe.
April 26-27, 1999: For all American TV viewers, ESPN's Classic Sports Network broadcasts "Schaap One on One - Martina Navratilova", a two-part documentary.
April 20, 1999: Martina will be participating in this year's World Team Tennis season, playing for the "Schenectady County Electrics". Joining her on the team will be Geoff Grant, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, T.J. Middleton and Samantha Smith. The coaches are Gerry Cuva and Tom Schmitz. Check out the match schedules here. The televsion schedule is yet to be decided. For ticket information, call (518) 382-5154. You could also e-mail the general manager, Nitty Singh, for more information.
March 30, 1999: April's "Tennis Match" magazine ranked Martina as the greatest female tennis player of the twentieth century. They sure have good taste J
March 26, 1999: From the "Radio Prague" website, Martina sent a very enthusiastic and hopeful letter to the "Prague Post" this week, in support of the new gay rights bill, approved by the Czech government recently.
March 22, 1999: "Smart Tennis", along with Dr. John Murray, author of the newly released book Smart Tennis: How to Play and Win the Mental Game, sponsored a poll on the most creative tennis player
in history. Hundreds of tennis players and fans voted from all over the world. In the results released today, Martina was ranked #5, and was the highest rated woman in the top 20.
March 14, 1999: The Womens Sports Legends website has added a new feature, entitled How the Legends Stay in Shape.
March 10, 1999: For all American TV viewers, Martina is being featured in an HBO Documentary Dare to Compete: The Struggle of Women in Sports.
The documentary runs through till June.
February 26, 1999: Heard from Jerry Steindecker, Marketing Director of the Legends Tour, and apparently, the Legends Tour
has still not found a new sponsor. Further events are planned for the year. Check out their "Upcoming events" page.
February 11, 1999: Martina posted on the AOL boards a few weeks ago, and said that she is spending a lot of her time in Europe these days. She is also planning another
safari trip to Africa this year. Thanks to Teresa Mallin for the info.