It's going to get, oh, about one-one thousandth of that other tennis legend's farewell that took place this week at the U.S. Open, but one would be remiss if they didn't comment on
Martina Navrátilová, who's playing the final match of her career tomorrow when she and
Bob Bryan play in the
mixed doubles final.
Like a lot of people, yours truly was a much bigger tennis fan in the '80s, when the personalities and rivalries --
Boris Becker,
John McEnroe and
Ivan Lendl; Martina vs.
Chris Evert -- were more compelling and the game hadn't become dumbed-down by racket technology gone berserk.
I was just a kid then, but Martina was the one who really struck a chord. Maybe it was the shared left-handedness, or maybe it was the contrarian in me, even then, since
Chris Evert was the darling of the American broadcasters.
At that age, I wasn't able to comprehend that Martina had defied two gigantic barriers, having defected from a communist country and being willing to be labelled as "openly gay" in a world that wasn't cool with that. (Navrátilová, ever one to defy easy categorization, says she's bisexual, but finds the term "creepy.")
It's hard to relate, but this was the Cold War period, an era when
Soap was cancelled due to public outcry over a gay character. It was even worse behind the Iron Curtain, where as Martina once put it, "gays were sent to insane asylums and lesbians never came out of the closet."
Perhaps because she knew what it was like not to be able to take anything for granted, she's been a political activist, one who was slamming
George W. Bush before it was fashionable and slammed communism too. I'll take that over athletes who never say anything any day.
Navrátilová did all that while she was defying the conventional wisdom and moulding the buff physique that would help her change women's tennis into a power game (so much for the days when
Tracy Austin could win the U.S. Open hitting marshmallows over the net) like the one you see today. Everyone copied her, to an extent, because she was the greatest women's player ever, with apologies to
Steffi Graf and
Suzanne Lenglen.
If she wasn't the greatest women's athlete of all time, then she's been more important than anyone who was better, and better than anyone who was more important (here one thinks of
Billie Jean King).
People made snide comments about Martina's muscular build back in the '80s. These days, almost every women's player looks like that and no one says anything. Martina didn't change all of that by herself, but it speaks to her impact.
The tour is full of eastern European players who are at home with Western culture. That's Martina's impact. The No. 1 seed at the U.S. Open,
Amélie Mauresmo, is a lesbian, but no one says anything. That's Martina's impact too.
Yours truly was too young to appreciate all that when she was in her prime, but it means more even now, even to this straight white guy who plays tennis very rarely, and very badly. (Last time my sister Trina and I played, she won 6-3, 6-0. Of course, she is the one-time Kingston high school champion.)
Martina's departure won't get the same attention as Andre Agassi's did, but remember, in a lot of ways when you watch women's tennis or women's sports in general today, you're seeing
Martina Navrátilová. Related:
Martina Navrátilová Wikipedia pageThat's all for now. Send your thoughts to
neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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