Tennis legend Martina Navratilova will miss this 12 months’s Australian Open after receiving a shock most cancers prognosis.
The 59-times singles and doubles grand slam champion was attributable to journey to Melbourne as a part of the Tennis Channel world commentary crew however has pulled out to begin most cancers therapy in New York subsequent week.
Navratilova says she is hoping for a “favourable outcome” after being recognized with breast and throat most cancers.
The 66-year-old Czechoslovakia-born naturalised American advised Tennis.com concerning the prognosis however added they have been each treatable.
It just isn’t the primary time the 18-times Grand Slam singles champion has been recognized with most cancers — in 2010 she had breast most cancers however was assessed as being clear six months later.
“The double whammy is serious, but fixable, and I’m hoping for a favourable outcome,” she mentioned.
“It’s going to stink for a while, but I’ll fight with all I have got.”
Navratilova observed an enlarged lymph node in her neck throughout November’s WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas.
“When it didn’t go down, a biopsy was performed, the results came back as stage one throat cancer,” her agent mentioned.
During the exams, a lump was additionally found in her breast, which was later recognized as an unrelated most cancers.
“The prognosis is good and Martina will start her treatment this month,” mentioned her agent.
“The cancer type is HPV (human papillomavirus) and this particular type responds really well to treatment.
“Both these cancers are in their early stages with great outcomes.” Navratilova’s therapy in New York has pressured her to desert plans to commentate on the Australian Open though she’s going to seem sometimes remotely.
Chris Evert, Navratilova’s nice rival on the courts who turned her good friend, revealed in January 2022 that she had ovarian most cancers however was declared to be in remission in May.
As a participant, Navratilova introduced a brand new bodily dimension to ladies’s tennis. Her highly effective serve and agility on the internet made her the dominant payer of her period as she picked up a complete of 59 Major titles — 31 doubles and 10 blended doubles including to her 18 singles titles.
Her file at Wimbledon is unparalleled, her 9 singles titles greater than anybody else — Roger Federer gained eight males’s titles whereas Serena Williams gained the ladies’s title seven instances.
She additionally gained seven ladies’s doubles titles at Wimbledon in addition to 4 blended doubles, the final of which got here in 2003 when she was 46, making it 20 titles on the All England Club.
Since her retirement she has turn into one of many wisest and most sought-after pundits on the sport.
Away from the courts, she has turn into an ardent defender of the LGBT trigger. In 2014, she married her longtime companion Julia Lemigova and so they dwell in Miami with their two daughters.
Originally printed as Tennis legend Martina Navratilova going through ‘double whammy’ most cancers battle
