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Tennis Champ Martina Navratilova, 66, on Cancer Diagnosis: ‘It Puts You Face-to-Face With Your Mortality’

Her advice to patients is to be selfish for themselves but empathetic to caregivers


spinner image martina navratilova smiles during her appearance on the today show
Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images

Nearly four months after getting the “all-clear” from her doctors, three-time cancer survivor Martina Navratilova, 66, met with patients at the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in New York City, which offers free lodging for patients who travel from far away to the city to receive treatment. Navratilova visited the facility as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The tennis icon’s own history with the disease dates to 2010 when she had a lumpectomy after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Then in early 2023, she received a tough new diagnosis, a “double whammy” of breast cancer and throat cancer. “I was like, how the hell is this possible?” she told the Hope Lodge community. “It’s not related to the first one and not related to each other.”

spinner image martina navratilova signs a tennis ball at the american cancer society hope lodge event
Martina Navratilova signs a tennis ball during her visit at the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in New York.
Mike Stobe/Getty Images for WTA

As she spoke with patients, Navratilova exhibited the toughness she showed on the tennis court for decades. “I’ve gone through three cancers now, and chances are I’m not going to have another one — this is not in my genetic makeup,” she said.

But her raw vulnerability also came through. “The possibility is always there. You just have to believe that it’s not going to be for decades. … At the same time, it puts you face-to-face with your mortality, whatever your age is.”

After a tour of the facilities, Navratilova sat down with AARP’s Edward C. Baig to discuss her cancer journey. Questions and responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

As you look back at the challenges, not only in your tennis career but in defecting from your native Czechoslovakia in 1975, how has that helped you get through everything you’ve been through with cancer?

spinner image martina navratilova holding her tennis racket ready to receive a serve during the wimbledon championship women's singles final in 1978
Martina Navratilova playing in the Women's Singles final at Wimbledon in 1978.
S&G/PA Images via Getty Images

It was the hardest thing, other than leaving my family behind. But, of course, I was 18, 19 years old when that happened. So you think everything is going to turn out just fine. When you get older, you become risk averse. You know how many things can go wrong. And with this [diagnosis], it was like, “Holy s***, what’s going to happen? How am I going to deal with it, physically [and] emotionally?” Once the treatment started, then you can see the end of the road. The emotional part was easier, but the physical was brutal. And, you know, I’ve trained really hard before. It was nothing compared to what I had to go through on a daily basis.

What was your treatment like?  

The problem was that I did chemo and proton therapy at the same time. You don’t know what’s doing what to your body. And after about two weeks, the throat started closing up, [I got] mouth sores and the hardest thing to do [was] swallow. Even a small thing like yawning, it stops the yawn because your throat closes down. Which is nothing in the grand scheme of things, but there’s so many different ways that you get affected. I got really cold, just shivering even though the room was warm.

Physically, I couldn’t take two hands and sip [water] like this because you didn’t have the strength and control of your muscles. Standing was impossible, walking was OK, slowly. But then when you stop, you have to sit down because you feel like you’re just going to collapse like the toy you push and it collapses. That’s what you feel like, a human collapsible.

So the chemo just kills you, and the proton slowly gets you tired. And it’s all cumulative. You don’t really start getting better until after the last chemo; I had three chemo sessions. Treatment [was] seven weeks, and you just take it one day at a time, and I was counting every day. I knew when I passed the one-third mark, one-half mark, three quarters; it was the longest seven weeks of my life.

It must have been especially hard as an athlete?

I had all these plans: I’ll bring my yoga mat and at least do yoga. I did a total of one hour in seven weeks because I had no energy. I couldn’t go out to dinner. Tennis? … [she laughs at the thought it was even possible at the time].

Have you been back on the tennis court since?

spinner image martina navratilova hits a volley during a doubles match at wimbledon at the all england lawn tennis and croquet club
Martina Navratilova playing in the Mixed Invitation Doubles-Round Robin match at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon on July 12, 2023, in London.
Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images

Yeah, I played at Wimbledon [in July] and played about six days, and then I didn’t touch a racket until I had a thing in Japan last week. I tried to play in May, and I had to stop after 10 minutes; I had no energy. Just hitting easy, I couldn’t take two steps. Now I’m ready to start hitting again and get in the gym and train again for skiing. I love to ski, so I’m going to get on the slopes.

What is the caregiving aspect of this like, and how hard has it been on your wife [The Real Housewives of Miami star Julia Lemigova] and the people close to you?

spinner image martina navratilova and her wife julia lemigova take a selfie in the royal box at wimbledon
Martina Navratilova and her wife Julia Lemigova (left) take a selfie in the Royal Box ahead of the Women's Singles final at The Championships Wimbledon 2023.
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

I was lucky. I have a family that was there. My wife, both our daughters [age 22 and 18] even though they don’t live [nearby]: emotionally very supportive. And one of them was in school in Richmond, and she came twice during my treatment to spend time with me here in New York.

Julia was there when I needed her.

Everybody was offering help. I had so many friends that wanted to do stuff. I think I collected about five blankets that people shipped to me.

It’s hard on the people that are taking care of you because they don’t know, they’ve never been through it and they have no control. So they’re trying to find their way around. You surround yourself with the good people, but you tell them what you need. And it’s OK for me to say, “Just leave me alone, and I’ll ask you for help if I need it.” It’s easier to do that than to have to answer 15, 20 times during the day, “No, I don’t need anything.” It’s really about conserving energy for yourself and at the same time acknowledging that it’s hard on the people that are taking care of you.

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How did the fact that your longtime friend and tennis rival Chris Evert was also going through cancer change your relationship?

spinner image tennis legends martina navratilova and chris evert sitting beside each other at the carillon miami wellness resort in miami
Martina Navratilova (left) and Chris Evert
Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images

It didn’t change it, it strengthened it. We just couldn’t believe that our lives have been so parallel. It’s really funny, me coming from a communist country, Chris growing up in Fort Lauderdale. And being two years apart, we pretty much went through the same growth spurt almost at the same time and could relate to what the other one was going through. But we were always on opposite sides of the net, at the same time living in the same places, getting married, getting divorced, being in a relationship, being single.

And then the cancer happened, and Chris went through it two years ago, I went through it this year. We couldn’t believe it. We ended up in the same hospital, [Memorial] Sloan Kettering, one year apart. Probably chemo transfusion in the same room a year apart. We share something we didn’t think we were going to share, we didn’t want to share, but now that we have, the relationship is that much stronger.

And now one of the Real Housewives of Miami stars, Guerdy Abraira, has also been diagnosed with breast cancer. Have you been there for her?

Of course. She had some questions, so obviously happy to help her. She wanted help for her husband who is the caretaker, but she’s dealing with it in her own way and hopefully will be OK.

What advice do you have for people 50 and older and how they can stay in shape physically and mentally?

Play tennis. It is the single best activity that you can do to prolong your life.

Not pickleball?

Navratilova: Not pickleball. Pickleball is too hard, you have to bend over too much. Socially it’s fun. But tennis, I think, is more productive on that front and is actually easier on your body than pickleball. Just play doubles, so you don’t have to run so much.

But really, just cut out the people that sap your energy. Surround yourself with people that give you energy that you want to see and cut out the riffraff. And don’t be afraid to ask for help.

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