As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the US Open, we look back at the 50 champions who have left an indelible mark on this inimitable event.
Martina Navratilova is one of tennis’ all-time greats, a player who achieved fame and captured titles across the globe. But no single event captures the arc of her career quite like the US Open, a tournament that served an early-career obstacle and delivered her late-career capstone.
Navratilova first competed in the Open’s main draw in 1973, losing in the second round. And while she reached her first Australian Open and French Open finals in 1975, and won her maiden Wimbledon crown in 1978, she would require a decade from her debut to achieve that same success in New York.
In between, her career – and her life – changed markedly. Navratilova transformed herself into one of the best-conditioned athletes the sport has ever seen, a serve-and-volleying paragon of fitness, athleticism and will. And she embraced a new future, just as she embarked on a rivalry that would define her career.
Navratilova faced off against her longtime rival Chris Evert at the US Open for the first time in the 1975 semifinals – they would play four times at America’s Grand Slam, all in the semifinals or finals – Evert emerging with a 6-4, 6-4 victory en route to her first Open crown.
But Navratilova almost missed the event entirely. Officials in her native Czechoslovakia were increasingly concerned that their star was becoming “too Americanized” and contemplated keeping her out of the competition. After her loss to Evert, Navratilova responded by going to the Immigration and Naturalization Service Office in New York City and applying for political asylum.
Freed from harsh oversight of the Czech tennis federation, Navratilova thrived, piling up titles – she remains the Open era leader in singles, doubles and mixed doubles crowns – and rising to No. 1 in the world in 1978. During that time, she excelled in tandem, winning US Open women’s doubles titles in 1977, 1978 and 1980, but still the singles championship eluded her – the lone bauble missing from an otherwise overstuffed trophy case.
The dam finally broke in 1983, kicking off one of the most dominant five-year stretches by any player at any Slam. From 1983 to 1987, Navratilova won four singles titles – denied five consecutive only by a 7-6, 1-6, 7-6 loss to Hana Mandlikova in the 1985 final – to go along with four women’s doubles titles and two mixed doubles crowns.
Her overall record in those three disciplines for that five-year stretch: 75-3, including a 34-1 record in singles that featured the loss of just four total sets (two of which came to Mandlikova).
Navratilova would continue to contend for the US Open singles title into the early 1990s, reaching the final in 1991 before falling to Monica Seles. But the best volleyer in tennis history remained a doubles stalwart long after. In fact, she reached a women’s doubles final in four different decades – from the 1970s to the 2000s – and, in the final act of one of tennis’ finest careers, claimed the mixed doubles crown in 2006, a month shy of turning 50, alongside Bob Bryan. She is the oldest titlist in U.S. Championships/US Open history, man or woman, seven years clear of any other player.
It was the last professional match Navratilova would play, making her the rare professional athlete who actually went out on top, holding a trophy aloft a mind-bending 33 years after she first traveled to New York, a champion like few had ever previously seen – unmatched, unrivaled and unparalleled.
50 Fact: Navratilova holds the Open era record for most total US Open titles, with 16. She won four in singles, nine in women’s doubles and three in mixed doubles. She is also the last player to win all three disciplines in a single Slam, having done so at the 1987 US Open.
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