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Martina Navratilova on the AARP and drugs and gays in tennis |
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A lot of people consume caffeine before they play because it makes them more alert.
I would have a couple sips to wake me up before a match, otherwise if I had a long match I’d go into withdrawal if I had too much. Then you need to keep drinking it.
Why do you think they test for recreational drugs?
Tennis is an Olympic sport, and the Olympics has a wide range of drugs that are not allowed. But I have no idea what sport marijuana would be good for. At the top level, there’s no way you can tell me it would help. Coffee helps, it’s a performance-enhancer. I think they’ve taken it too far. My biggest problem with the drug testing is that they punish you before you’re proven guilty or not. So now with Hingis, whether it was her sample is one question, or if someone put it in her drink or her food, she tests positive and now she can’t play and she has to clear her name. She can’t compete until the case is resolved, and that could take a year.
It would be so easy to sabotage a player. I was at the Australian Open a couple years ago. Evian was the official water so everyone was carrying a bottle of Evian. I was practicing with someone, and then we sat there after practice and I picked up my bottle, or so I thought, and I was walking off the court and drinking the water and I tasted something in the drink; I had picked up somebody else’s Evian. It was probably some sugar powder, but I didn’t know what was in it and I panicked. I took it to the drug-testing people and said I just drank somebody else’s water and I asked them what I could do, and they said there’s nothing you can do. Well that was great. What I did was keep a bottle with the water and I saved it, and I took it with me for four months. So if I tested positive for anything, it was in this water, and I was preparing my defense. I drank it, but I didn’t know it was mine. But the penalty is the same, or if I took a toke of pot, or if someone took steroids and has been doing it for years. The penalty for all of that is the same, or eating a cookie laced with pot that I didn’t know about. Somebody playing a joke on Martina Hingis. She’s at a party, people are snorting coke as they do at that age, and they’re offering her some but she won’t do it because she’ll be drug tested, she goes to the bathroom, they sprinkle a little in her drink, she’d never know she took it. It’s very much a possibility, talk about a reasonable doubt. That could have happened, but now she’s screwed.
I was at a friend’s house recently. He was smoking pot and, if I was still playing, I’d be worried and I’d have to leave the room or he’d have to go outside to smoke it. I played a tournament in Holland a few years ago and smoking pot there is legal. I went into a juice bar, I wanted to do my favorite carrot-apple-ginger-lemon juice, but then I saw people smoking pot and I had to get out of there. I don’t know how little it would take, because the next week was Wimbledon. It’s that scary for us. When I quit playing, it was a relief that I didn’t have to worry about that. I never took a drug in my life.
Of course, there were steroid accusations. And that’s interesting. The steroid allegations are always with the women. Oh look at Serena, she must be taking steroids. Steffi Graf, oh look at her legs she must be taking steroid. Arantxa, look at her quads, she must be taking steroids. Martina’s arms, she must be taking steroids. Did they ever say that about Pete Sampras or Roger Federer or Nadal? Not one word about the guys. It’s always the women. It drives me crazy. And I don’t think anyone did do steroids. I know I didn’t.
Years ago you said that if you had a child you’d like it to be with Wayne Gretzky’s sperm. If you had to choose someone today, would you still pick Gretzky?
Absolutely. Why not! But I’m past menopause now. I could adopt. I always thought I would have one of my own, but that’s not in the cards right now.
Every year in Aspen during the Aspen Gay Ski Week there’s a gay vs. straight hockey match. Would you every want to play in it?
Absolutely! But those guys are really good.
Is there one piece of advice you could give to a C- or D-level GLTA player to help on their second serve, without seeing them?
Sure. The second serve is about getting it in and putting as much spin on the ball as possible. With the new strings, you can put a lot more spin on the ball. That’s the key.
Do you think Federer will ever win the French or Henin will ever win Wimbledon?
Yes, both. I think Henin has a better chance, because her game is better-suited to winning Wimbledon than Roger’s is for clay. But both could win it this year, and since the French comes first, Roger would do it first. If Nadal wasn’t around he would have already won it a couple times.
We have a member at Outsports named Gaga4Gaby. Is there anything you could tell us about Sabatini that we might not know, or any personal insight?
Everybody loves Gaby. She’s just a wonderful, good person. I couldn’t say anything bad about her. The only thing I’d say is that she quit too soon. I’m disappointed that she quit when she quit. She could have won Wimbledon. She had the game for it. But she quit before she got to that, before she could take it to another level.
Do you use your AARP card to get into the movies?
I haven’t yet because I haven’t been to the movies in so long. But I will. I’ve been talking about that for years. It’s a gift card, becoming an AARP member.
How much gayer did Karen Walker make you?
Oh, from Will & Grace? That was fun. I’d like to do more acting, I had fun doing that. I’d like to do it as somebody else, instead of playing me.
When you’re down, is there something that picks you up?
There are different things. Different people inspire me at different times. There was a moment when I was driving in Aspen, and I saw a woman with one leg on the side of the road running with crutches. And she was going along, her leg, then crutches, her leg, then crutches. And Katherine Hepburn inspired me when she told me, “You are what you finish.” You know? People start things, but they don’t finish them.
Of the thousands of interviews you’ve done, is there a question you’re surprised you’ve never been asked, or one you’d like to be asked?
No, not really. Some of the best questions come from the fans. One time on an Internet chat someone asked me, “What’s going through your head when you toss the ball up?” It was a great question. Nothing should be going through your head, but what are the thoughts? Personal questions, I don’t want to be asked those because I won’t answer them. There aren’t many skeletons in my closet, though I do still have a few of them. There’s no way I’d talk about some of the stuff I talked about 20 years ago.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 10 June 2008 )
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