FIVE QUESTIONS WITH...Martina Navratilova
Liza Horan speaks with the author of "Shape Your Self"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Liza Horan
330 Third Ave.
New York,
212-682-6829
liza@tenniswire.org
05/15/06 -
By Liza Horan, Editor
No pro tennis player has won more singles matches (1,440), singles titles (168), or Wimbledon singles championships (9) than Navratilova. She is the only player besides Margaret Court to have won all major titles--singles, doubles and mixed doubles. While Navratilova retired from singles in 1994, she continues to play doubles. In addition to her athletic career, Navratilova is an author of novels and fitness books, including "Shape Your Self: My 6-Step Diet and Fitness Plan to Achieve the Best Shape of Your Life," recently published by Rodale. Her website is www.MartinaNavratilova.com.
"Shape Your Self" is about taking healthy steps to improve the quality of your life, and you focus on the psychological side of achieving goals in the book before advising readers on the nitty-gritty, such as how to make smart food choices and increase activity. You say that keeping a journal, building a support team of like-minded friends, and developing a mind-set of singleness of purpose will help you achieve personal excellence. Where does personal fulfillment figure?
It needs to come from within. We keep looking for others or other things to fulfill us and it needs to come from the inside, just like (physical) change needs to come from the inside out. If you want to lose 20 pounds, don’t go to a doctor who will just liposuction it out--change your diet a little bit, take a walk around the block for 15 minutes every other day, and the pounds will start coming off. That will give you fulfillment because you’re doing it yourself rather than having somebody else do it.
Outside of tennis and publishing, do you have any business interests?
I do have another business going, the Rainbow Card, which is a (credit) card that I started with some friends 10 years ago and now I am the sole owner of it. The card helps raise funds for the Rainbow Endowment, which then gives money to different gay and lesbian organizations in this country. It’s fundraising for the gay and lesbian community, so I’m very proud of that.
Do you still have the Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was presented to you at Madison Square Garden when you retired from singles in 1994?
The Harley is in very good hands. Once I started playing again I wasn’t on it at all. I wasn’t doing it justice. It was too special to be sitting in the garage all the time, so I sold it to one of my best friends and she rides it all the time. I think she’s put 50,000 miles on the bike. It’s awesome! I gave it to a better mother. I have another Harley so we ride together.
Martina, besides tennis, you ski, snowboard, ice skate, mountain bike, sea kayak, scuba dive, ride horses, and play golf, ice hockey, softball and basketball. Is there a sport you haven’t tried?
Synchronized swimming! I’m a decent swimmer, but I’ve only gotten better when I was training. Anything that’s interested me I’ve tried.
I’d like to get better at surfing. I’ve only tried it a couple of times and I’m not much of a water person, but the idea of surfing the water is intriguing, and it’s a great way to stay in shape and be with nature. It just doesn’t get any better than that, so I’d like to become a better surfer.
I love to be moving. My body feels better when I do something.
I remember a telephone press conference you did months after retired from singles. You talked about all the activities and traveling you were doing. Now, a dozen years later, it seems you are still on the go. Is this the natural pulse of life for you?
I would like to slow down a little bit because I’m not home enough even to enjoy my dogs. I have Chloe, my chihuahua, lying on my lap as we speak. And, you know, I won’t see her for three months because I’m not taking her to Europe because it’s just too difficult. Tournaments don’t make it easy to have a dog with you, and that’s my big beef that I have with the (WTA) Tour. They go out of their way to make it difficult for you, rather than make it easy to travel with an animal—and I miss my dogs!
It’s a little bit of home that I take with me and I can’t do it anymore. You can’t bring the dogs anywhere, and that’s giving me enough reason to not travel so much anymore.
I would like to slow down a little bit. It’ll happen eventually.
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