Person of the Week: Martina Navratilova
June 25, 2004 -- Some have said tennis champion Martina Navratilova is too old to do what she does. But she makes no apologies.
"It was nice to be walking out a winner for a change," she said, smiling.
Navratilova stunned the tennis world this week by becoming the oldest woman since 1922 to win a singles match at Wimbledon.
Topic one for the assembled tennis press after her win: How does a 47-year-old do it?
"Did you in your own mind have any doubts that you could come out here and be competitive?" asked a reporter.
Navratilova responded, "No. I told you that in Paris. You guys didn't believe me (smiling). Now do you believe me?"
"The ball doesn't know I'm 47 years old. It's going, 'No, please don't hit me!' I love playing tennis. I want to stay out there for as long as I can, and if you can still compete and people enjoy watching you, why not?" she said.
Navratilova is one of number of elite athletes over 40 and still going. Six time MVP Barry Bonds will turn 40 next month. Forty-one-year-old pitcher Roger Clemens leads the national league in wins. Football player Jerry Rice is still playing at 41. He's known as "the best receiver in football history."
"I think you could say that 40 for an athlete today is what 30 used to be," said sports writer Frank DeFord. "They used to come to spring training or to their new camps to get in shape, now they're in shape all year round. Now of course it's different for tennis which is an individual sport and a very grueling sport, so that what Martina is doing in tennis, that is very unusual."
Navratilova won an astounding 167 singles titles and 166 doubles titles in a career which has spanned nearly 30 years. She changed the game of women's tennis by forcing opponents to reach her standards of fitness and athleticism.
"She's really looking good, playing good, running," said fellow tennis champ Goran Ivanisevic. "I mean, she is 48. Probably I'm going to be in wheelchair at 48. But she's just great, great. She's my hero, you know.
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