ZestW

Tennis great Martina Navratilova turns 66 today. Born in 1956 in Prague which was then part of Czechoslovakia, Navratilova turned Pro in 1974 and retired in 2006. There remained no accolade that she did not win and her success remains unparalleled across all three disciplines.

While Navratilova won 18 majors in singles, she won a whopping 31 majors in doubles. 21 of those came while she partnered with Pam Shriver, her fellow American having changed her citizenship in 1975. Shriver and Navratilova won 19 of their 22 Grand Slam finals together.

On the occasion of her birthday, Shriver put out a birthday tweet for her former partner and in few words showed the mutual love they had for each other. “My partner of 10 years @Martina is having another birthday, (she is way ahead of me) May she have many happy returns, just like she did on the tennis court,” tweeted Shriver.

Also Read: Pam Shriver jumps in Iga Swiatek’s defence in the ‘distraction’ controversy following outrage from fans against the World No. 1

Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver also won 10 Year-End Championships together

Navratilova and Shriver not only were a big success in the Grand Slams but they were equally successful on the Tour. The pair reached 10 WTA Finals together and won all of them. They won 10 titles in space of 11 years with only the 1990 WTA Finals being the event they didn’t win due to Navratilova‘s surgery forcing a withdrawal.

The pair in total won 7 Australian Open, 4 French Open, 5 Wimbledon and 5 US Open titles together. During the 1984 season, the pair won all four majors achieving the Calendar Grand Slam, one of the rarest feats in tennis. From 1983 to 1985, the duo won 109-matches consecutively, an unmatched streak to date.

Undoubtedly, they were the “Double’s Team of the Year” during the 1980s for the majority of the decade. They were named the team of the year for 8 consecutive years from 1981 to 1988 in what was a reign of unmatched supremacy by the two.

Also Read: “You’ve got to have patience,” Rick Macci vehemently believes Serena Williams wouldn’t be a good coach

Also Read: Maria Sharapova’s former coach comprehends the Russian’s “b***hy” attitude toward other players

ncG1vNJzZmiemafAtb%2FPqKmtsl6YvK57056lp6GjYrumw9Jmp5qlXai1s7XVnqlmq5WjsbR5wGafnpmiqcSivsyipaBlp57AqXnTqGShnaJivaK%2B06ecq2Wfm3pyfIyynJqqo2K6or7ToqWaZZ6Ww7Ot06KjqK6RYryveceeqWaamafBqbDAsmY%3D