On October 18, 1956, Czech-American former pro tennis player, Martina Navratilova, is born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 major women's doubles titles, and 10 major mixed doubles titles for a combined total of 59 professional tennis titles.
Navratilova became a professional tennis player in 1974 when she won her first singles title in Orlando, Florida, at 17 years old. In 1975, she won the French Open women's doubles title with team mate Chris Evert. The following year, in 1976, Navratilova and Evert repeated their winning streak to win the Wimbledon women's doubles.
Although Navratilova and Evert were 2 powerful forces in the combined women's doubles tennis matches, they were fierce competitors in the singles. Navratilova won her first major singles title against Evert at the 1978 Wimbledon Tennis championship match. However, Evert took it back in January 1979. Finally, that same year in 1979 Navratilova beat Evert again to win the Wimbledon title. The rivalry between Navratilova and Evert continued through much of the 1980's.
Navratilova's final Grand Slam singles tennis match was in 1990 after winning the Wimbledon's singles crown against American tennis player, Zina Garrison. In 1994, after losing to Gabriela Sabatini in the first round of the WTA Tour Championships, she retired from full-time singles tour tennis competition at the age of 38.