Resilience

Striving for Excellence

An Interview with Martina Navratilova

EDITORS’ NOTE The most successful female What were the keys to your success tennis player of the Open era, Martina and leadership in the sport? Navratilova amassed an unmatched number The key is striving for excellence every of professional records over the course of a step of the way. In other words, always giv- career that spanned four decades. She won an ing my best effort on and off the court, not unprecedented 59 Grand Slam titles, includ- quitting and, most of all, being willing to take ing a record 9 Wimbledon singles champion- chances by changing techniques, strategies ships, along with 167 singles and 177 doubles and having a willingness to step outside of championships. Over the course of her ten- my comfort zone. nis career, Navratilova was distinguished as the You have been vocal about societal WTA’s “Tour Player of the Year” seven times, issues throughout your career. Do you named the Associated Press’ “Female Athlete of feel that this is a responsibility with the the Year” and declared one of the “Top Forty powerful platform that you have to reach Athletes of All-Time” by Sports Illustrated. After people? being inducted into the International Tennis It is not a responsibility, but a great oppor- Hall of Fame, she continued to take part in tunity to make a difference off the court. Having WTA events as well as the 2004 Olympics the freedom to speak up and not be punished Games. As she approached her 50th birthday for it is a privilege I have always appreciated in 2006, she decided to leave the tour circuit and still do to this day. behind after her fi nal Grand Slam, a mixed- How critical is resilience to being doubles championship with Bob Bryan at the successful in professional sports? US Open which saw her become the old- Resilience is essential to success in any est player to ever win a Grand Slam title. endeavor and in any fi eld and is represented Navratilova provides commentary for the by the willingness and strength one must Tennis Channel during its coverage of Grand have to deal with setbacks, losses and fail- Slams. She is an ambassador for the WTA and ures. One must have the strength to keep is a regular commentator for the BBC and coming back every day to try to improve and Tennis Channel at Wimbledon. She has also there can be no quitting – champions don’t worked for Amazon Prime Video beginning Martina Navratilova quit. By the way, I don’t look at failure as with the US Open 2019. In September 2019, a negative – I see it as an opportunity to she starred in the Netfl ix comedy drama The Did you know at an early age that your improve. Politician. She enjoys spending as much time passion was for the sport of tennis? The resilience of the human body, as she can with her family in Miami, and Yes, I did. I started hitting against the particularly for athletes, often defies often fi nds herself traveling the world, speak- wall at age 5 and then stepped on a real court many people’s understanding. What role ing at events, playing in numerous exhibition at 7 and never looked back. I always loved does mental resilience play in driving the matches, and tirelessly promoting all of the tennis as it’s always a challenge since the ball physical resilience needed to be a profes- issues that are close to her heart. never comes back the same way. sional athlete? One needs both – the mental resilience drives you to work out harder and get your- self in the best shape possible which then gives you the physical resilience. When you “Resilience is essential to success in any know you’re in great shape, it not only gives you the freedom to play the “right” way with- out physical limitations, but also gives you endeavor and in any fi eld and is represented a huge confi dence boost, thus helping your mental state. Who are some of the resilient leaders by the willingness and strength one must have you see today? Resilience also means to me that you to deal with setbacks, losses and failures.” keep trying to do the right thing, and per- haps nobody embodies that better than Jimmy Carter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the recently passed John Lewis. We could all learn from them.• 46 LEADERS POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2020 LEADERS MAGAZINE, LLC VOLUME 43, NUMBER 4