5 unbreakable records of Martina Navratilova
Czechoslovak-turned-American citizen Martina Navratilova is, without a doubt, among the greatest of athletes that tennis has ever had across all eras. Having turned professional in the year 1975, Navratilova had one of the longest careers among all athletes playing and kept winning titles into her 30's, 40's and 50's too!. She retired in 2006 at the age of 50.
Regarded by many as the most complete player of all-time, Navratilova tasted remarkable success across all categories of the sport. A testament to this is the fact that she is only one of 3 players (in fact the only player in the Open Era) to have won the 'Boxed Set' of Grand Slams -- winning all 4 Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles titles across all the Grand Slams.
We take a look at 5 of Martina Navratilova's records which may never ever be surpassed:
1. Most consecutive match wins in Open Era
The greatest winning streak in tennis history began on February 20th, 1984 at the US Indoor Championships in New Jersey. It was here that Navratilova would embark on a spree of unprecedented dominance in professional tennis.
From February 20th, 1984 to 7th December, 1984, Navratilova won 74 consecutive matches, landing 13 titles. This included 3 Grand Slam titles -- the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. The streak came to an end when she lost to fellow Czech Helena Sukova in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. What is even more special about the year 1984 is that Navratilova won all 4 Grand Slam titles in doubles category along with her partner Pam Schiver. In the entire year, she suffered only two defeats, the other one coincidentally to another Czech -- Hana Mandlikova.
In today's age, it is impossible to fathom a scenario where a player can even go on a 50-match winning streak, let alone 74.