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Martina Navratilova was recently named by the AARP as their Health & Fitness Ambassador to their 39 million members. Starting in 2008, AARP members will be able to access health and fitness tips, exercise routines and other features via AARPfitness.com. We caught up with Navratilova on the set of Good Morning America as she was taping a segment in early December.
Outsports: How did your relationship with the AARP come about?
Navratilova: They contacted me about doing an event a year ago, and I guess they liked what I brought to the table, so they wanted to expand the relationship.
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| Navratilova shows Robin Roberts her favorite salad recipe on Good Morning America. |
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There’s certainly a stereotype that seniors don’t go on the Internet. Is the Web the best place for this?
Absolutely. My mother, who is 74 years old, last year learned how to use the computer. She ordered Christmas presents online this year and had them delivered to her house because she can’t go shopping anymore. So I think seniors are much savvier than we give them credit for. And of course, the biggest influx of AARP members are the baby-boomers, who are tech-savvy. I’m into all the gadgets. For the most part, AARP is redefining what life after 50 is all about; it’s about staying active, not just physically active but also mentally active. And one way to do that is to experience computers.
Of the descriptors of you, where would you rank 50-year-old with these descriptors of you: athlete, lesbian, woman, American.
I’ve never defined myself by my age. For me, it’s about being a humanitarian more than anything else right now. If you put them in line, probably woman first, tennis-player, humanitarian, then either lesbian or 50-year-old. I don’t like to put it in an order of importance because they all make the sum of the whole. It’s like when people ask me what was my favorite win or who’s my favorite player. It’s not that. Maybe I can give you a top 10, but not in any order. Being 50 is a badge of honor, that I was able to do what I was doing at this age, which hadn’t been done before.
The way you’re looked at by society is athlete first. But most of the rest of the well-known openly gay athletes are known as gay first and athlete second. Why do you think society looks at you differently, as an athlete first before you’re gay?
I’m a woman first, because that’s been more limiting in a way, and it still is, depending on what country you’re born in. I want the fact that I’m gay to be irrelevant one day. It’s relevant now because we don’t have equal rights and we are discriminated against. One day they won’t even say gay, but right now it is part of leading the way and being a pioneer and leading the fight for equal rights for all of us. It might be because I became famous first as a tennis player and then I came out. But then it was still always “lesbian tennis player.”
A lot of the others had limited recognition by the public at large before they came out.
A lot of people became more famous because they were gay than for their athletic accomplishments, and my athletic accomplishments made me famous.
There are a lot of screamers out there when you look at equal rights movements, whether it’s for women or seniors or gay people. You have always been a very careful, thoughtful voice. Where did that come from? Why have you never become a screamer?
There are many societies, Thailand for one, where if you start screaming people think you lost your mind. Perhaps it’s because I don’t like to be screamed at, I just shut down and don’t listen. I try to be straightforward and say exactly what I think, and I try to do it in a nice manner. Maybe it’s because I don’t feel it’s anything we need to scream about; we just need to get our point across. I think people are much more willing to listen when you don’t scream. People really tune into you when you start speaking quieter, and hopefully you have something interesting to stay.
There are more and more out lesbians on the tour, but we still have never had an openly gay man in tennis. Why do you think that is?
I have no idea. I don’t personally know any who are gay, because none have come out to me.
Really? That seems crazy.
Honest to God. I have suspicions, but I don’t know of one who’s definitely gay. I read that letter to Tennis magazine [in 1994] from an anonymous male player who said “thank you because we’re not all as brave as you are,” but I don’t know who they are. But I don’t know why. It can’t be because they’re all worried about endorsements, because most of them don’t get any anyway. And now, perhaps they’d get one because they are gay. It’s funny. I understand it in team sports because it can become a negative if the coach or the front office is homophobic and you might not get to play; let alone that your opponents might come after you. But in tennis, nobody can stop you from playing because of your sexuality or if someone doesn’t like you. If your ranking is good enough, you get to play. It’s very simple. So I don’t know why none have come out.
It’s fascinating that none of them have approached you.
There were women I didn’t know were gay that I found out after. I would get a vibe from some players when I was playing. The ones who were very certain of their sexuality, one way or the other, were more friendly. And the ones who were less certain or were homophobic were not so nice. Or they were afraid that people would think they were gay because they were my friends. It’s kind of funny. Pam Shriver wrote a book about her life, where she was proclaiming her heterosexuality, and she is straight, because everybody thought that because she played doubles with me she must be gay. There was a Russian player who wanted to play with me but her father wouldn’t let her play with me because I’m gay. And at the time she was a nobody. He liked me, he’d say hello to me, but he would not let her play. It’s bizarre, I could have been a help to her. Now she’s off the tour because of injuries. But that’s unusual. I didn’t encounter much homophobia like that. But it is bizarre that players would be in the closet so much that I don’t even know who the guys are.
How much money in endorsement deals do you think you lost over the course of your career because you were out?
Oh gosh. I don’t know. Maybe $10 million? A lot.
How much sleep did you lose?
None. Over what? Because I wasn’t making as much money as I could have been? Money was never the reason for me to play tennis or do anything. I never schmoozed, I never went to the parties where I’d meet the movers and shakers who would get me exhibitions or endorsements. I just did my thing and focused on playing the best tennis that I could, and that certainly didn’t include going to the parties. And I was never ashamed of my sexuality. I never was, even growing up in Czechoslovakia where homosexuals were put into the insane asylum. I never thought there was anything wrong with loving another human being. I never saw anything wrong with it. A lot of people had issues with it, like my parents, but I never lost sleep over it.
Are your parents still here?
My father died six years ago and my mother is still around. He had a bad reaction initially, but he educated himself, he read some books and talked to people. And he realized he had nothing to do with it, I had nothing to do with it, it wasn’t a negative or a positive, that’s just the way it was. He was just concerned whether I was happy or not. My mom was pretty cool about it the whole time. She was more worried about the people I was with, not what gender they were.
When are you going to open an academy?
I’m working on it. In the Czech Republic in the next couple of years. I can’t tell you when, but it’s very much in progress.
Why there?
It’s a lot easier to get it done there than here. It’s easier to get the financing, and that I’ve spent a lot of time there. It makes sense.
If you could coach one player on the men’s or women’s side, not necessarily the best player but the person you’d most like to get your hands on, who would it be?
It would have been Novak Djokovic, but he’s in good hands with Marian Vajda, and he’s bringing out the best in him. I had seen him three years ago and thought he had ‘it.’ You can spot it at any level, but certainly when you get to the top level you can start to see if they have the physical ability, and also what they have in the head, which is what keeps so many players from reaching their best. Justin Henin would have been a pleasure to work with. There’s a girl named Agnes Savay who is a great talent as well. She’s Hungarian. I saw her hit two shots and saw how she carried herself between shots and I thought, that kid is for real. When you see talent like that, that’s what you want to help mold and get the best out of them.
How much recreational drug use is there on the tour?
Not much anymore because you get busted for it. I don’t think recreational drugs should be tested for, because they’re not performance-enhancing. As athletes we should be punished for cheating, but smoking pot is not cheating. It’s not much different from drinking beer or drinking coffee. It’s mind-altering, but so is drinking coffee. I had chocolate mousse last night at dinner, and I had a couple bites and my heart started racing. I don’t know what coke does, but I imagine that’s what happens. To me, caffeine could be a drug. Sugar gets you going.
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