All language subtitles for Just.Call.Me.Martina.2016.1080p.WEBRip.x264-CBFM

Martina Navratilova - possibly the
greatest tennis player of all time.

ALL SING

Together, we revisited her hometown.

Growing up in a communist country,
you, kind of, did whatever it took.

Her earliest years are from an era
that no longer exists.

No! That was right on the chalk!
Come on!

In her youth, she was feisty.

Defecting to America -
within four years, the world's best.

She transformed herself and there
was a time no-one could beat her.

Game, set and match,
Miss Navratilova.

DAN MASKELL:
And the dream has come true.

A pioneer, an activist, an icon,

but perhaps SHE has the best way
of describing herself.

December 2014, New York City.

In a life of many fresh starts,

this is another.

SHE SIGHS

The calm before the storm.

Mary's got the rings, right?

I have them.

SHE SIGHS

# They're writing songs of love... #

She's a serve-volleyer, man.

She just serve-volleys.
She knows herself.

She's, like, "Go get 'em!

"Don't worry about the consequences.

"Worry about that later."

She's very well read.

She has an incredible memory.

She's good at maths,
she's good at languages.

She's good at just about anything.

It reflects in her social media -
what she tweets out, what she reads,

who she advocates for.

She's getting married
and I'm single.

Go figure.

SHE LAUGHS

This is a friend of mine, Karen.

Jeannie Ash.
Jeannie, have you met the Mayor?

You must have met.

At the age of 59,

Miss Navratilova is about
to become Mrs Navratilova.

It's her wedding day.

She's marrying Julia Lemigova -

a businesswoman, a former Miss USSR,

a worried Julia.

I start thinking
in three languages and it's...

It just sabotages me.

You are an extraordinary
couple together -

a radiant couple, may I add?

Martina, thank you.

For so many years - and I may add,
long before it was fashionable -

you stood up and you spoke up,

and we are
eternally grateful for that.

Thank you.

'She's been a great fighter
for people who are gay'

and she's helped to crusade
for people... People's rights.

That's a very important thing to do,

especially when you're involved
in sport and music and whatever.

Julia, I promise to love you,

to cherish you,
in sickness and in health.

No matter what, I will be there
for you and for our family.

I promise not to make the social
media another member of our family.

LAUGHTER

I can just imagine how many girls
growing up, knowing they were gay,

must have thought,
"Thank God for her."

What an incredible example.

With this ring...

(..I thee wed.)

By the powers vested in me
by the State of New York,

I pronounce you married.

You may embrace.

JULIA CHUCKLES

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

This is a wedding day
with a message.

Same-sex marriages
can take place in New York,

but not everywhere in America.

I got you. I got you.

We wanted to do it
before the end of the year.

Didn't want to wait,
but it wasn't legal in Florida,

so we had to do it somewhere else,

and it just made sense
logistically, emotionally.

Julia, same thing for her -

she had some special times
in New York City.

It just made sense.

She came up to me and said,
"Hello, I'm Martina."

I said, "Hi, I'm Julia."

LAUGHTER

And that was the beginning...

of a beautiful friendship!

Thank you to be
such a wonderful parent

to my girls - and your girls now -

and I love you so much.

And this is the most special day
of my life.

APPLAUSE

'Cos we've been together
for such a long time,

'but I thought the kids felt more
secure within the relationship

'that it's validated and equal.'

For me,
I felt so much more secure,

like you can't mess
with my family any more,

you cannot tell me I'm less than -
and it was huge.

That impact was bigger
than I realised it would be.

So, here we are, celebrating being
full-fledged members of society.

I know it's made
a big difference for girls.

To all those people that might have
a problem with same-sex marriage,

I say look at our family.

And I feel like most of my life
is right in this room,

one way or the other. I just wish...

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I wish my parents
were here to see this,

but I know they're watching
and so now we have a new family,

so, thanks, everybody.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# And you can tell everybody

# This is your song

# It may be quite simple

# But now that it's done... #

'She's found her permanent
doubles partner in life -

'as I'm sure is endlessly said'

at every tennis player's wedding!

But not mixed doubles, in her case.

# How wonderful life is

# Now you're in the world. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Goodbye. Bye! Bye.

All without a hitch, so to speak.

We got hitched without a hitch!

Mrs Navratilova.

I can't believe it.

So now Mom is a Mrs,

what do I call you now?

You call me Martina.

Martina was born in Czechoslovakia -

a country now split into Slovakia,
and here, the Czech Republic.

And it's to Prague
that I've come, to find out more.

We're going back in time, to an age
when things were very different -

to days long before
I got to know her on tour.

APPLAUSE

Martina's parents divorced
when she was three.

Her mother left Prague
with her two daughters

and they moved to a village
40 minutes away by train.

Revnice.

Martina, this is home, but this
is the centre of the village.

Yes. This used to be cobblestoned,
so riding a bicycle was, you know,

a bit of a precarious proposition.

The pub was there.

The grocery store was here,

but now there's extra stores,
and some changed.

And the famous dentist. That's the
window where he used to torture me.

There was bad energy,

because the dentist always
used to give me a hard time.

"You need to stop eating candy."
I'm like, "I don't like candy.

"I don't eat candy.
I don't chew gum."

I wasn't doing
any of the bad things.

And I still had bad teeth.

On the tennis courts,
it's somebody else.

She even didn't like to practise.

Always, Father said, "Oh, you must
do things, don't lay on the sofa."

She doesn't like to run. Imagine!

When she stops playing
and at home, she is different.

Sensitive, playful.

You know, this is what I used to do
when I was a kid - walk around.

That balance is still there,
you see.

Not...

Not fall in.

But usually
there was no water in there.

Ooh! There we go.
Somebody turned the fountain on.

For all the sense of fun,
this was a childhood spent

in post-Second World War
Czechoslovakia.

Europe behind the Iron Curtain.

Growing up in a communist country,

you just, kind of,
did whatever it took.

You know, you told a bad political
joke and you would go to jail.

But, you know, the childhood,
up to when I left, at 18,

I had a fantastic life here.

In the summer, we swam in the river.

In the winter, we skated on it.

You know, climb people's fences and
steal their cherries and walnuts.

THEY LAUGH

But you really couldn't buy fruit.
They were very expensive.

They were more expensive per pound
or per kilo than the best meat.

She was just
a little, bouncy, happy child,

with very exceptional
physical capabilities.

I remember, I think
we went to the local river

and suddenly this little girl
took a little pebble

and she threw it as far
as we could and we said,

"Wow. I mean,
this is quite amazing."

My uncle, who was
quite a tennis player,

he said, "Yeah,
she's an absolutely amazing kid.

"I have never seen one like that."

And I think they were
tired of him a little bit.

He was saying, "She's going
to win Wimbledon before she's 20."

He really believed in her.

My mum was a great athlete.

I mean, she could have done
anything she wanted to.

And she played volleyball,
she ran track, she was very fast.

She could have been
a great tennis player.

But she encouraged it in me,
and then, I'm like,

"OK, world, here I come!"
And I was, like, ten.

It's a lovely setting.

And Karlstejn, which is a famous
castle - that's maybe five miles

as the crow flies - and that's
a big tourist attraction.

That's King Charles.

He built the castle
for his mistress.

Oh, really?! Those were the days.

THEY LAUGH

The courts are great. The middle one
is where I hit my first ball

on a real court.

Then, this one was the first time
I put my feet together on the serve.

Ah.

I was right here. Our clubhouse
is pretty much the same.

I kissed my first boyfriend -
no, second boyfriend - right there.

In the clubhouse,
in the locker room.

Whatever the attractions,

it was here Martina first began
entering the record books.

This is when I won
the Czech Championships

and then, like, two weeks later,

I won the Junior Championship,
growing up.

And even then, you're on tiptoes
trying to be taller.

Yeah, I was just so short.

And this was the women's part.

Right. It still is women.

So, damy - dames. Aha!

So this is where I was snogging
with my boyfriend, right here.

Right here.

SUE LAUGHS

And still the original locker doors.
Really? Yeah. Oh, no.

Who...? Oh, that's Jana?
That's my sister.

Oh! That's my sister's locker, yeah.
I was in the corner there.

Do you come back here much?

I come two, three times a year,
yeah.

So, now that my sister lives
here again, the last three years,

and every time I come back
I hang out, yeah.

By the time she was 14,

Martina was too good
for the local club,

and so began her travels in tennis.

First stop, not so very far away -

the Sparta Prague club.

Here she met
the Czech star of the day,

the 1973 Wimbledon champion,
Jan Kodes.

As the number one in Czech,

there was many people around here,
you know,

watching my practice, and so on.

Martina's father always
come to me and says,

"Hey, Jan, Martina is going to
play on court for practice -

"I like that you look at
how she's playing." And I said,

"Mirek, she shouldn't
come to the net that often.

"She should be more careful and
prepare the approach much better."

And he said, "Don't worry about it.

"I think it's very good
that she comes to the net,

"because she will have something
what the other girls never have.

"Every girl can play
from the baseline,

"but if she learn
to play on the net,

"she's going to be extraordinary."

And later it become true!

I would hit for an hour

and then we'd take the tram
back to the train station

and that was the routine, you know.

I could, literally, hear the train
coming and I'd start running

and I could still catch it.

Going back and forth by tram,

train, and on the back
of the family motorbike,

these were days of innocence
that suddenly stopped.

August, 1968. The Soviet
response to the reform programme

of Alexander Dubcek's government.

Do you regard your country
as having been invaded this morning?

It was an invasion, yes.

Where do you think Mr Dubcek is?

He appears to have vanished.
He's still in office.

The Prague Spring was over.

There was a picture in there
with the girl that I was with

when the Russian tanks came.

I was in Pilsen,
playing a junior tournament.

I got there Thursday night,

Friday we were supposed
to go play tennis.

And Friday morning,
her father called us and said -

at eight in the morning - he says,
"Don't go outside, there's tanks."

So, of course, we went outside,

and by then, we saw the tanks
everywhere, the roads were torn up,

there was tanks everywhere,
scouring the countryside.

The Russians move around
like strangers from another world,

patrolling the streets
by day and night

and digging their roots
even deeper into Czechoslovak soil.

The Czechoslovaks watch
their expansion grimly

and react with the only workable
attitude in this unreal situation.

An attitude of silent defiance.

There was just an amazing sadness
going on in the country

because, under Dubcek,
we were feeling that, you know,

we might...not have capitalism,

but not communism, either -

just kind of...we could breathe,

we could travel, we could
start your own business.

There was a hope for having
more freedoms - personal freedoms.

And that was quashed.

The change was coming from the top,
but they didn't like it,

so they sent
600,000 soldiers, with tanks.

The army was told
to stand down, by the government,

because we knew they had no chance.

I think we can relate to one another
because of the past that we had.

In my case, growing up
in a war-torn country,

people would stand in line to get
a piece of bread or just, you know,

one bottle of milk and, you know,

they would live on it for weeks,

so it's not kind of experience that
you wish for anybody to go through,

but I'm sure that
Martina would agree

that those experiences
have helped us to get tougher

and get hungrier for the success.

It's hard, you know,
to understand what it was like,

coming from a communist country,
of how difficult it is to get out.

Well, that was the tricky bit.

Yeah. Again, if I didn't
get all the way to the top,

I wouldn't have gotten the visa
to get out of the country, so you...

Was that added motivation, in a way?

Yes, absolutely.

I knew this was a way out,
for me, of the country.

It might be thought
she was born at the wrong time -

to be born in a totalitarian state.

But where she was born
and how she was born

and her sexual identity

gave her some of this
extraordinary internal energy

to fight, fight, fight.

And if you'd taken
that away from her -

if exactly the same
genetic package that is Martina

had been born 30 years later

and grown up
after the Velvet Revolution

in what would then be
the Czech Republic -

would she have the same fight
in her tennis game?

What really helped the travel
plans - Martina's escape plans -

was being national champion
at the age of 17

and leading Czechoslovakia
to victory in the Federation Cup.

To compete in
the international team event,

you couldn't stay put
behind the Iron Curtain.

You had to travel,

and Martina found herself travelling
back and forth to America.

It just felt so luxurious

and easy and free.

The Western culture
was very much craved here.

And we would listen to ABBA
and Diana Ross and Neil Diamond,

Elton John, of course.

So, you brought a bit of that back.

And brought tapes, cassettes.

She goes, "I want to be number one
in the world and the only way

"I can become number one in
the world is if I live over here,

"train over here
and have the freedom

"to train the way that I want to

"and make the choices
that I want to."

I remember studying English,

and there was a picture
of the Empire State Building,

and I was telling my roommate,

"I'm going there next year.

"I'm going to be in New York."

So, I was the bee's knees,

cos I was going to get out of
the country and go to New York City.

It was something special
in our country -

communist country -

it was like to travel
to the moon now.

# Have you been an un-American?

# Just you and your idol
singing falsetto 'bout

# Leather, leather
everywhere and... #

Well, I think it was
a culture shock for her

when she came over to America,

and she was like
a kid in a candy store.

# All night

# She wants the young American... #

I first met Martina when she was 17,

and you could tell right away she
was going to be, like, number one,

if she put her mind to it.

At the beginning,

when she first got to America,

all she did was eat and have fun

and tried to be more American
than Americans.

She was eating pancakes
and hamburgers

and her diet was a bit off.

But she had NO luxuries in Prague,
Czechoslovakia,

and she went wild for a little bit.

# Young American

# Young American... #

You enjoyed everything in America,
it was well documented.

You put on quite a few pounds?

I put on so much weight
the first two weeks,

I had to buy shorts in Dallas.

The second week on tour,
I had to buy me a new pair of shorts

because I couldn't fit
into my normal clothes.

So when Olga Morozova saw me
the third tournament, she...

First she didn't say anything.
She just went...

This is what she did to me,
instead of saying hello -

she just blew up her cheeks.

Great. I thought I just looked
more feminine, you know?

Because all my muscles
were disappearing.

I had little female curves

and, you know,
I'd have two hamburgers for lunch

and two scoops of ice cream.

Breakfast, I would have
eggs AND bacon AND pancakes

AND cereal.

I never had cereal growing up,

never had pancakes growing up,
so I just got heavy.

I put on 20 pounds in two weeks.

That's hard to do
when you're playing tennis.

Living the good life

was hardly going to please
the regime back home.

To compete in the major tournaments

in the summer of 1975,
she'd need a new visa.

Her father come to me and says,
"Jan, you know,

"the Federation wants to stop
Martina to go to the US Open.

"Could you help?"

I went to the Minister of Sports,
you know, and I said,

"You cannot do this.

"And if you stop her for now, what
is going to happen in the future?"

Imagine you want
to go play the Italian -

"Oh, no, we're not
going to give you the visas,

"because you're too Americanised."

And then, I thought I cannot be
in this limbo forever.

And so, that's why I left. So...

Who did you discuss that with?
Or was it...? My dad.

My dad knew that
I was probably going to stay

and he said, "Don't tell Mum."

Wow. "If you go, don't come back."

But did he encourage you
or did he just say...?

Oh, he just said, you know,

"That's the only choice you have,
if you really want to play."

So, I didn't tell Mum.

She was calling from the United
States and I told her on the phone,

"Don't come back. Even if they will
tell you anything, don't come back."

Because they would put her
to prison, of course.

She was already
a famous tennis player

and those who tried to defect,
or defected, they always got prison.

That was a bold, brave move.

I don't think
I could have done that.

I know I couldn't have done that -

to be distanced from my family,
and she...

I remember asking her,
"What about your family?"

She goes, "I don't know
when I'll ever see them."

Once, after I lost to Chris
in the semis at the US Open,

the next day I went to

the Immigration
and Naturalization Service,

and the next morning
it was in the paper already.

They told me not to say anything,

but the next morning
it's in the Washington Post,

that a famous
tennis player defected.

In the communist country,
when somebody left the country,

or somebody of your family

was politically active
against communists,

so the rest of the family
somehow suffered.

Kids couldn't go to school,

or people lost their jobs,

they lost their house,

so people didn't talk to us.

They didn't want to be friends with
us any more because Martina was bad,

like they wrote very badly
about her in newspapers,

that she left the country and...

I left the country,

because I had some problems
with the director of the school,

who actually told me
that she is ashamed for the nation,

that there is no place for me
at university

and show me the door and say,
"There you go."

When people ask me,
"What are your regrets?"

I said I regret
that I had to do that.

That I had to leave my family.

I had to leave my,
you know, home country

and leave everything behind.

It was like she died.

It was so sad, you can't imagine it.

I admire her courage,
because she was number one, OK,

she had money after that,

but to be alone,
and she was 17, 18 years old.

I was a little bit scared for her,
because I knew she was immature.

She was 18-year-old kid and she...

I was wondering whether
she'll be able to handle it,

and that was one thing -
she was able to find good people

to give her good advice.

Professional tennis in the 1970s

was in the throes
of a capitalist makeover.

Players were forming
their own tours,

pushing against the old order.

They were pushing themselves

and Martina soon spotted
who were the best - and why.

I think when we went down
to the practice courts,

with the likes of Harry Hopman
and the Australians that, you know,

I think Martina recognised that...

why we were winning.

It was because we were fitter.

Martina, she was young and
was getting through the matches,

but as she climbed up the ladder

and got into
the quarterfinals and semifinals

and then winning some matches,

that gives you the experience
and the determination to say,

"Hey, I'm here to play
and I'm here to win."

MUSIC: Popcorn by Hot Butter

Chris Evert was an early friend
and doubles partner.

CHEERING

Together,
they won Wimbledon in 1976.

A Grand Slam title,
to add to the doubles they'd won

at the French Open the year before.

In singles, the friend was a rival.

The core and the essence
of Martina hasn't changed.

She is calmer, I think.

As she gets older, she bloss...
I think we're both late bloomers.

I think that tennis bit,

when you're in such an intense,
competitive environment,

it's not conducive to growing,
necessarily, as a person.

Martina's breakthrough moment

came in the Wimbledon final of 1978.

She would become champion
and world number one

for the first time.

I'd turned 16
during that championship

and I just remember the joy

of her winning her first major.

Who knew that it would be
the first of 18?

I was happy that, even though
I had lost in the middle weekend,

that I stayed
to watch her defeat Chrissy,

live and in person,

because in such an early part
of MY playing career,

it was important to see
that kind of match in person.

Yeah!

CHEERING

That's it. She's won it.

If we wanted to see her on the TV,

we had to go to Pilsen,
close to the border to the West,

and we had some friends
and they showed German TV.

So we could see her
playing on the TV.

Czech TV didn't show it.

They would show
until I started winning

and then they wouldn't show it.

That's how people knew
I was in the finals -

when they didn't show the final.

When I lost early,
then they showed the final.

They would write
about the tournament

and then, kind of,
ignore my half of the draw.

And when I got to the finals,
they stopped talking about it.

That's how people
knew I was winning,

when there was nothing in the paper.

You know, she was playing

and we were very nervous,
it was terrible.

Mamma had to take a cognac.

Father, a little brandy.

You know. And after a match, "Hah!"

Mrs Jana Navratilova
hadn't seen her daughter

since she defected
to the West four years ago.

But today, she was able
to watch her daughter

as she played her opening match
on the Centre Court,

in defence of the title
she won last year.

Permission was finally granted,

when the All England Club contacted

the Prime Minister
of Czechoslovakia.

It's like long-lost daughter
or son coming from war, almost.

At some point, we didn't even know

if we would ever
see each other again,

and it's... It all happened
so quickly, that we really didn't...

Neither one of us
was really hoping to get it done,

but when it finally happened,
it was just very thrilling,

you know,
you can't really describe it.

It's four years since
you last saw her in the flesh.

Four and a half.
How has she changed?

She is now very... Skinny. ..skinny.

And for me, is very, very beautiful.

Mrs Navratilova,
nice picture together.

Having eaten on arrival in America,

Martina was now
burning up the calories.

This was a new regime

of mental strength and fitness.

By the late '70s, early '80s,

we were ready to talk about
nutrition and working out

and weights and all that -
and with her physique,

she was just perfect
to really push the game forward.

Just getting more information
about nutrition

and how to cross-train more,
Martina was amazing.

Every week, she'd always
want to lift weights

at least once, to maintain.

# Let's get physical... #

This was taking the women's game

into a new dimension -
a new domination.

Even amongst the best
sportsmen and women,

there are very few people
who can come back year after year

to take the top prizes
again and again.

I guess I started
the fitness craze, you know,

in that I started working out
off the court.

I didn't just do
my training on the court,

I did other sports.

And so, I guess
I was the pioneer in that,

while everything got more
technical and technological.

# Physical, physical... #

By the mid-1980s,
she was totally dominant...

..winning six consecutive
Grand Slam singles titles.

Do you have any advice to young
people watching Record Breakers,

who would like to be
the best in the world?

First of all, do your best.

That's number...
That goes without saying.

You know, you can't slouch off

and expect for things
to fall into your lap -

you have to give it
your best effort.

I agree with her there.

She's right on the money.
And, boy, was she fit!

My generation were
the transition generation,

from amateur to
professional tennis - we had both.

And then, the second generation
is your Chris and Martina and Sue.

The first generation was so lucky
to have the second generation.

They were true superstars.

Martina and Chris had the greatest
rivalry in the sport, ever.

If they had been men,
they would talk about it constantly.

Martina and Chris
were that exceptional.

At their peak, they met
in 14 Grand Slam finals.

Former doubles partners,

locked into an individual rivalry

that spanned more than a decade.

I appreciated her for what
she did for women's tennis

and what she did for my game,

which was to lift the level -

and she appreciated me,
I think, to have as a rival.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

We were lucky we had
those two players.

They made a huge difference.

If we didn't have them, I don't know
if we still would have a WTA tour.

They competed and they're trying
to be friends and then they aren't,

because Chris cannot be friends
when you're competing.

She told me that
when I was a player.

She said,
"Billie, I can't be your friend.

"Can we wait until
my career is over?" Go.

That's it. She's won it. Game,
set and match, Miss Navratilova.

1979,
four years after her defection,

she was able to win Wimbledon
in front of her mother.

Sometimes, it seemed SHE
was one of the few Martina fans.

I was asked somewhere to list
my heroes and I included Martina.

And one of the reasons was simply

the joy and excitement
she gave me in tennis -

a new kind of thrill -

and also knowing that
a lot of British people

didn't want her to win.

APPLAUSE

Of course, when you're playing
against a crowd favourite

that has the majority
of the support in the stadium,

you have to accept that
as a reality and a fact.

You know, in those circumstances,

those are the opportunities for you
to grow your character strengths.

I'm sure that those kind of
experiences also made her tougher.

That's it.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You know, I think
the beauty of our rivalry

is that specific point that
we were so different, you know?

And even at a young age,
I was American,

she was from a communist country.

Quiet, please, ladies and gentlemen.

Very emotional on the court
and I was cool and calm,

and she was a serve-volleyer,
aggressive,

and I was a baseliner.

And so she brought
her set of fans to the matches

and I brought
my set of fans to the matches

and, you know, that's why
I think it was so interesting,

because of the contrast.

It's out, that's it.

Game, set and championship,
Miss Navratilova.

We were very opposite, but deep down

there is a sense of compassion
when the other one lost.

After we retired,
we could just shake off

any sort of competitiveness,
jealousy,

negative feeling that we had,

and we could just totally appreciate
each other as just human beings,

not only as tennis players.

I think it's great that,
at 31 years old,

you're still winning these types
of awards. I think it's great.

Are you going to retire soon
or let us have a chance?

Well, first you have to retire.

You're older than I am,
don't you remember? I am?

At least a year.

They always got along better
than people think.

Roller-coaster - but, look now,
they're great friends.

Since you haven't won
too many awards this year,

only the two biggest tournaments

in the world -
Wimbledon and the US Open -

I'd like to present
this BBC Television

Overseas Sports Personality Award
to you.

I think it's very merited.

From one personality to another,
thanks.

We went back to Czechoslovakia
when she was an American citizen,

and I witnessed that whole scene,
which was incredible.

The media were there in force for

a homecoming that was being
stoically ignored by the Czech
authorities.

Some journalists carried photographs

to make sure they'd recognise
the world's number one tennis player

when she appeared
from the customs hall.

It was the first time that
Navratilova had seen her family

in 11 years.

But what she might have hoped
would be a touching moment

became a scramble to force her way
through the arrivals lounge

at Prague Airport.

She was a non-person,

meaning the American team
led by Chris Evert,

Pam Shriver, Zina Garrison,

but there's no mention
of Martina at all

in any sort of newspaper, etc.

We go out and the American team
is introduced

and I looked in the corner
of my eye over at the balcony,

where all the officials were -

the government officials -

and they just sat in their chair
and didn't respond -

didn't clap, didn't stand up.

They just were, you know, poker
face and just looking at the scene.

The fans LOVE her.

Got more of a standing ovation

then Jana Novotna
and Hana Mandlikova

and, you know, Helena Sukova,

who were the Czechoslovakian team.

It was a delightful surprise,

let's put it that way,

for everybody who went over there
partaking in this match.

The public embrace of Martina
returning back to her homeland,

returning as one of the great
champions of the sport of tennis -

seeing the public embrace
was incredible.

Welcomed - back home and in America,

where her parents
defected to join her.

Finally, acceptance of her

and acceptance BY her
of her own feelings.

I really didn't figure it out

until I had my first relationship
with a woman.

When it did happen, I'm like,
"Oh, that's what it was!"

You know, because
I've had these crushes,

but I didn't recognise them

as anything but just crushes
on adults, you know?

I had crushes on men, as well.

But they were definitely
stronger on women.

My dad asked, you know,

"We think that you're living
as a man and a woman" -

with this woman that I was with,
and I always said, if they ask me,

I will tell them,
so that's exactly what happened.

You know, five years
after I'd been with a woman,

they asked, and I said, yes,

and then all hell,
kind of, broke loose, but...

You know, Dad said some things
that he wished that he hadn't said,

but he didn't know.

Again, people really
didn't know any better.

We never stopped talking or
anything, but there was a tension,

and then my dad,
he educated himself,

he read some books, and he says,

"You know, I realise now it had
nothing to do with you or me.

"It's just, this is
who you are and it's OK.

"I just want you to be happy."

And that's all you want from your
parents - and this is 30 years ago.

You talk about
your family coming over.

Did you buy them a separate house,

because you wanted
to protect them from finding out?

Well, no.

I needed the space on my own,

even if I had been
married with a man,

I still would have wanted
that separate house, you know.

I'm an adult now and, you know,
the parents live next door, not...

I mean, they live,
like, three houses down.

So, at the end, it was all
only about me being happy,

and - does the person I'm with
treat me well?

But her private life
would be played out in public.

There were televised lawsuits.

Breaking up was hard enough,

but this was suffering
in the glare of exposure.

The emotional toll was obvious,

the financial cost
revealed for all to see.

What was not so clear -

the costs of being openly gay.

I knew it would cost me
on many levels.

What I didn't realise is how much it
would cost me in fan support.

That was a very negative thing,

from the fans' standpoint, I mean.

From crowd reaction or from letters?
Yes, crowd reaction.

Letters, crowd reaction,
response to when I was...

When I would come on the court.

When I started winning,
it really... Being gay and winning,

I think it was too threatening,
you know?

It was OK to be gay
as long as I was losing,

but when I started dominating,

somehow I had
an "unfair advantage".

I don't know how!

Financially,
it would have cost you a lot.

I didn't lose any deals,
but I didn't get any new deals,

let's put it that way.

I had my shoes, rackets
and clothing contracts always

and then, when I started winning,
the money was better.

But did I ever get paid as much
as Chris for the same deals?

I doubt it. And I certainly
didn't get any outside deals

for, you know, Wheaties.

All right, here we go,
it's nice and quiet.

Let's roll sound, roll camera,

set and action.

The world is about challenging
yourself more than anyone else.

And cut. That was beautiful.
All right. I'm cutting there.

Was it breathy enough? That was
breathy enough, that was good.

'The good thing for Martina,
which I was very happy about,'

is she was able to keep playing.

Here we go. We are set.

By doing that, the LGBT community

had a champion
who was still playing,

which was thrilled.

You know, she's one of our -
I call women sheroes.

It comes from her passion.
As a player, she was passionate

and she still is,
and that comes from within.

I mean, two people I can think of
are Billie Jean and Martina

that have that passion.

They're still as passionate now -

more passionate - because
of a few humanitarian things,

as well as tennis.

She voices her opinion,
even if it's controversial,

even if it goes against
the norm or the grain,

and probably made some mistakes,

but I think better to be that way
than never to say anything.

Like me!

Hello. I'm Martina Navratilova.

Former number one in the world.

Come and have a chat with me
about conquering the world.

I'll do it again.

I think that was great. That was
perfect. That was it. Yeah? Yeah.

'She's very good company.
She has a very dry sense of humour

'and her eyes hold you.

'I sat next to her at Wimbledon
and I was her guest -'

she very kindly invited me
to stand in for her wife,

so I was her temporary wife.

She's the kind of person -
a bit like Bob Dylan -

that you just don't want
to get in their bad books.

You don't want them to give you
a look of, "Who are you?"

She's got real presence.

I think she loves the sport

because, even a couple of years ago,

I saw her on the tournaments
and practising a lot.

I think that's been
part of her compass in life,

is the great sport of tennis,

but she certainly
is ageing gracefully

and, you know, now to see her

in a marriage partnership
with Julia,

it's just another amazing stage
of this incredible woman.

ALL SING

I guess warm people
attract warm people.

Well, she's Russian.

Who knew that a Czech and a Russian
would get along this well?

It didn't go so well
back in the '60s, but here we are,

and for many reasons,
it's emotional -

the impossibility of even thinking
that you will get married,

you know, growing up as a gay woman.

And Julia, we meet and she has kids

and we just become a family,

and everybody's happy
that we're happy, so it's great.

Relaxing - perhaps the secret

behind one of the most successful
partnerships in professional tennis.

I always said, while we played,

one of the reasons
why our partnership lasted so long

is we actually did not spend
that much time together

away from the courts.

So when we were together,

it was really pretty fresh and fun.

From July 1983 to June 1985,

Martina and Pam
won every Grand Slam doubles.

In total, they were
undefeated in 109 matches.

Everybody has a lucky break,

I believe, in life -
in their business life,

in their personal life -
she was my lucky break.

There were others,
but mostly WITH Pam,

Martina won more doubles titles
than singles.

I remember telling her at 17,

"You're going to be
the greatest player ever."

I always thought she was the best
singles, doubles and mixed player

ever to have lived,
up to this time.

I think Serena might do better,

but most of them don't want
to play doubles and mixed,

like our generations.

Well, it's tough, no, because in
terms of timings and the schedule,

it's difficult
to play mixed and doubles,

because to adjust
and be 100% focused in one thing

if you have to compete
in three different tournaments, no,

so it's amazing
all the things that she did

and she is one of
the most important stars

in the world of tennis
for a long time.

Maybe Martina forever will be

the best singles, doubles and
mixed player to have ever lived.

She's such
an all-around great athlete.

This year's Lifetime Achievement
winner is Martina Navratilova.

In 2003, she equalled Billie Jean
King's haul of Wimbledon titles -

20.

Each one has its own story.

When I was playing with Martina
at Wimbledon in 2003 in the summer,

and as I jumped up for a smash,
the lights went out.

But it wasn't really
the lights went out,

because you're playing
in broad daylight,

but it was I lost my vision.

And I had the presence of mind

to cover my head with my hands
to protect myself,

and I came down
like a ton of bricks.

And when Martina came to me
and she tapped me on the head,

she realised
I was burning up with fever.

Well, I did not want to tell her
that I was playing with 104.3 fever,

I did not want to tell her

that I had this
thumping headache for 48 hours

and I wasn't feeling good, at all,

because I knew
she wouldn't let me play.

So, I persevered through it
and we won Wimbledon.

But the next morning,

I went back to Florida and I was
diagnosed with a tumour in my head

and I was very lucky that
it wasn't something permanent.

I think you'll be surprised

to see the person
walking out here with the trophy.

You don't know he's here,

but he wanted to be
a part of your celebration -

it is your mixed-doubles partner,
Leander Paes. Are you kidding?!

APPLAUSE

'I'm very emotional about Martina.'

'Martina is just someone

'that's not
just a champion of tennis,

'but she's a champion of life.

'When I was in hospital,
my 9pm phone call was always her.'

I just feel that I'm a blessed man

to have Martina
as one of my best friends.

I think you'll be back next year,
won't you?

I'll definitely be here, whether I'm
playing or not. But I'll be here.

Thank you. Thank you.

Well done to Leander Paes
and Martina Navratilova!

She would play on.

Three years after this,
she'd win her last major title -

the mixed doubles at the US Open,

a month short of her 50th birthday.

Martina - more appreciated
with each passing year,

with each passing tear.

At home in America, at home here
on the green grass of Wimbledon,

and in the homeland she so
dramatically left as a teenager.

Now a citizen of two countries -

America and, since 2008,

the Czech Republic.

So, she can easily relive
her Prague childhood -

every last bit of it.

At least you can trust your dentist.

I hope so!

Severely testing family love,

the dentist here is
her younger sister, Jana.

She's laughing.

She's a sadist.

She's really going to enjoy this.

What was I thinking?

WHIRRING

Ah!

JANA LAUGHS
No, no, no, no. That's not funny.

'She loves reading a book,
eating - she loves to eat.'

She's always very happy when I
cook for her and I always ask her,

"What do you want? What should
I make for you when you come?"

And she says,
"Oh, do you have something sweet?

"Could you do me a palatschinke?" -
it's a crepe she like.

And then she relax and is happy.

LAUGHTER

We're going to go for lunch now.

Test the teeth out.

See you later. Bye.

Her hometown has changed
over the years, but not much.

There are still no traffic lights,
yet, it's home.

And somewhere,
she can share a cake or two

with the girl
she first sat beside in school.

And their family lived in there?
Yeah, they never moved.

I mean, that was their house.

And I think if my parents had
not moved to the States for a year,

we would still be in that house.

Instead of, you know,
where my sister is now.

Was that sad for your parents,

to come back and not
go back into their house? Yeah.

Yeah, it was difficult,

because it was not just
a matter of...emotions,

but it was a matter
of inconvenience,

because it was difficult
to find a house

and they wanted
to live in this town.

My dad called and said, you know,

"We found a place",
so I sent him $50,000,

they bought the house
and that was that.

But they were just lucky that
they were able to even get it.

So, this building was...

That's the Sokol, so the gym is in
this building here. What's Sokol?

Sokol, he was the guy that started
these clubs for exercise.

And fitness has always been
a major part of your life.

Raising two kids in America,

you have to be, you know,
there's so many...

Yes. Julia was always
very strict with the kids,

you know, very natural,
healthy lifestyle.

TRANSLATION:

Could you hear her chewing?
Yes, I could hear her chewing.

Somebody I know
bought them chewing gum.

I never buy them chewing gum.
I didn't buy them chewing gum.

Do I need to be the police
and check everything you do?

We don't allow you to use...
It was in the candy.

You allow us to chew. No. No.

In the States
it's a little more difficult,

because there is just
so much junk food out there,

but we prepare their lunches

and they get a soft drink

maybe four times a year, you know.

So, we restrict them,
but they like it

because they realise that
it's better for them as well.

Especially the older one, you know -

she's 14 now, so she has
to be careful with her skin,

so it's a little bit easier,
but they're good kids.

They're easy. And they're
at the Chris Evert Academy.

And right now, they're both
at Chris Evert's Academy.

Go figure! How funny is that?

Do you have to get a pass
to go in there?

Chris gives me a really good deal.
So, life is funny.

How would you feel if one
of them wanted to play tennis?

I'd love it. I mean, I'm
certainly not pushing them into it,

but if they want it
and they love it, it's great.

When you think about what
you had to go through as a kid now,

and how lucky, you know, they are

in just being able
to go to the Academy.

It's different.

Well, yeah, life is complicated

and it's difficult
in different ways,

but, yeah, I had a great life here,
you know?

OK, so I only had
one pair of tennis shoes

and I only had two pairs of pants

but, you know,
like I said, I was never hungry,

I was never cold, so life is good.

A breast cancer scare in 2010

motivated Martina
to campaign and encourage women

to have regular check-ups.

Mine was four years in between
and I didn't realise it at the time.

I just, kind of, put it off.

I moved, so I changed doctors,

and I'm like, I'll do it,
you know, next spring,

and then the next thing
you know, you're in Australia

and you still haven't done it.

And so, it might have not
turned into anything.

It was DCIS,
but it can become cancer.

It can spread
and it's risky, obviously,

and it was terrifying.

Well, when I heard she had cancer,

it was a tough one for me,
because I lost a sister to cancer,

I lost my first husband to cancer
and I lost my dad to cancer.

So, when it happened,

we didn't speak about it
all that much.

I didn't offer to be
that close support

and I did it, basically,
because, you know,

I haven't had the most
positive experience.

But she's, sort of, a close...

You know, she's an example
of a close friend that I can say,

"Hey, I have somebody really
close to me that is positive,

"has a positive result."

It's life. And it's...

I don't think
Martina thinks like this.

She doesn't think it's a pity
for her or something, you know.

She's going on and doing things,

so she doesn't think,
"Oh, I am sick."

I don't think so.

I knew the diagnosis of the illness,

so I had good hope

and I knew that she will recover,

so I knew it, so to say.

So I was happy
when everything was over, yeah.

'It's just in God's hands and
the surgeon, and fate or whatever.'

You just, kind of, hope and,
you know, it's been five years.

SHE KNOCKS ON TABLE

Yeah. And it's an important
lesson that we all...

That we've all learned
from that. Absolutely.

You decided you wanted to
talk about it, confront it,

and show how to deal with it.

Well, again, it's like being
in the closet about something.

So when I first knew what I had,

and I had to have surgery,
I didn't talk about it -

I thought,
"I don't want to go public!"

But then when I really found out
more about what happened to me,

why I had it, what I had,

how important it was
to get those yearly check-ups,

I'm like, "I can't keep this quiet."

I, kind of, felt that
I had a duty to speak out,

to encourage women
to have that yearly check-up.

'She's incredibly hard-working.

'When we were doing one
of our early French Opens,

'we were fully prepared
to fill in for her

'whatever she needed, of course.

'She said, "Don't be silly,
I'm going to work."'

She would do her treatment
in the morning

before coming to the tournament,

then broadcast the tournament

and then go out and practise,

because she was going to play in
the Legends tournament at the end -

and won it.

She has the world's biggest heart

and she has - ironically -
very little, if any, ego.

It's remarkable.

She's not a tough gal,
by any stretch.

She's got a very dry
sense of humour,

and she's also fearless
and adventurous.

So, Julia Lemigova...

No, it's not happening.

..please marry me.

Please marry me.

I don't care how times
you've won on that court,

to propose to somebody,
in effect, live,

in front of millions of people,

it is a great reflection
of who Martina is.

Yes. You say yes?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Hey, kids

# Shake it loose together

# The spotlight's hitting something

# That's been known
to change the weather

# We'll kill the fatted calf tonight

# So stick around... #

When you see her
in action on the court

and then you see her
in action off the court,

fighting her cause
and sticking up for people

and trying to change the world,
it brings a smile to your face.

I can't tell you
how much that means

to me and to millions
of other people.

# B-B-B-Benny and the Jets... #

You know, you really
can't compare eras,

because if Steffi
was growing up now,

she would have a different
backhand and different strokes,

I would have different strokes.

I think that Steffi's slice
would have given everybody...

Well, it gave me fits,
and I like low-bouncing balls.

I think the... Who doesn't?

LAUGHTER

I thought you liked 'em high!

Anyway, be that as it may...

I'm actually playing doubles with
her, which is quite frightening

because I'm not a great net player

and she insists
that I get up to the net,

so she's terrifying to play with.

You're playing alongside

probably the greatest female
tennis player of all time

and, you know...it's one thing
singing in front of people,

but it's another thing having to
perform with that kind of greatness.

Team Elton John
taking on Team Billie Jean King.

CHEERING

The fact that she's still playing
pretty damn good

at nearly 60 years of age

is quite remarkable.

You know, I've had the luck

to have watched her up close,

to have seen
her many victories at Wimbledon

and throughout the world,
and just be astonished

that the fact she loves
the game so much.

I love people who keep going
and have the passion,

and I still feel the same -

I'll be 69 next birthday,
but I have as much enthusiasm now

as I did when I was 20,

and I think you could
say the same of Martina.

So, when Martina talks to athletes
and talks to ordinary people,

I think she has
a good effect on them.

# Benny, Benny, Benny

# Benny, Benny and the Jets... #

From Vegas to Cambridge,

from bright lights to light blues,

a champion of lawn tennis playing
the oldest version of the game...

..real tennis.

She is about to become

an Honorary Fellow
of a Cambridge college.

The college
is called Lucy Cavendish.

This is very different
from the journey she began

as a young tennis player
in Czechoslovakia.

Game. 2-0.

She's like an absolute legend.

I know.

Oh! My family are
going to be so jealous.

I told my sisters -
they were just like,

"What? How is this even possible?"

So it's a different bounce
to what you're used to.

I think it's really good

to have someone like that
promoting women's sport.

I think it's something that's
growing massively at the moment,

and to have someone
like her come along,

it's just obviously
really encouraging.

I think that will only
spur people on

to go and achieve
even more excellence.

Oh, I forgot!

You know, when I was 12,
I did very well in school.

You know, I was a straight-A student
until ninth grade

and then, when I went to
high school, I started travelling

and then the grades - Bs -

and then when I really started
travelling, I, you know,

I had Cs, even,
which was unheard of for me,

but...I was on the road so much.

Hello. Oh, goodness.

Welcome. Would you like
to come over here?

Yes, please. Thank you.

Welcome, everybody. We're here
today to mark the occasion

of Martina Navratilova becoming
an Honorary Fellow of our college.

As it turned out, because when I was
in the final year of high school,

the final exams
were during Wimbledon.

I didn't go, and then I left
the country, then I defected,

so I never graduated
from high school.

Martina has said that the key thing
is for women to set no limits.

She's a fantastic advocate
for women in sport

and a motivational speaker
about women in leadership.

Her tennis has
delighted and inspired

generations of tennis fans

and she can still be seen playing
at Wimbledon to this day

in the Legends doubles,
as she approaches her 60th birthday.

LAUGHTER

I, Martina Navratilova,

elected an Honorary Fellow
of Lucy Cavendish College,

accept the purpose of this college,
its statutes, ordinances...

'For me to be getting
this fellowship...'

you know,
only women that have, like,

brilliant academic careers
have that -

that's pretty cool.

Pretty cool. I'm very humbled.

Martina Navratilova,

by the authority, and in the name
of Lucy Cavendish College,

I welcome you as an honorary
fellow of the College.

Thank you very much. Very nice
to have you here, Martina.

Now... And I also promise to always
cheer for Cambridge over Oxford.

LAUGHTER

I was planning on graduating

and becoming either
an architect or an engineer,

building something, and play tennis
as long as I possibly could.

I'm the fellow of mathematics.

Welcome. Hello.
Shona Wilson, biological scientist.

I had a Plan A, which was school -

Plan B was tennis, but then
the Plan B, kind of, took over.

I'm Jenny Gibson,

university lecturer
in psychology and education.

Are you profiling me right now? Yep!

LAUGHTER

I usually just sign my first name,
so I have to practise my last name.

LAUGHTER

She herself would make
an intriguing subject.

Rushing - always rushing -

because there's so much to do.

You've got two minutes
to get these photos.

Oh, really? No pressure, then.

A little bit closer
for the two of you, I think.

We've already been looking like
we're getting married, haven't we?

I already have a ring.

That's lovely.

That was great. Brilliant.

Thank you so much.

'You always find something to fight
for that you feel strongly about.

'I've been fighting
on many different fronts -

'whether it's for kids,
for animals, for the environment -

'old people, as well.

'People that basically can't
help themselves - and, of course,'

gay and lesbian rights,

women's rights, I mean,
we still have a long way to go.

Basically, the only people that have
nothing to fight for are white men.

Straight white men.
They are all set.

But if you're outside of that,

you're an outsider.

And there is a mountain to climb -

it just depends on
how high that mountain is -

but there's a mountain to climb.

'I do it in my time,
in my pace, at my level.'

You know, I hope that it makes a
difference somewhere, on some level.

There's always a fight.

It's an appalling cliche

and really disgraceful,

but if anyone was going to have
Sinatra's My Way sung

at some lifetime-achievement award,

it should be Martina.
She really did do things her way.

Great. Go on.
Let's get into the boat.

Has Martina changed?

I think she's really
enjoying being a mom.

I think she's just having more
experiences outside the tennis court

that have made her just fuller,
more of a full person.

OK. Push her out. Ah!

No, I don't want
to go for a swim in this.

'She's the greatest tennis player
that ever lived.

'You know, she's an inspiration.'

And if I was an inspiration to her,
she's certainly been one to me.

I think she taught all of us

how to be more comfortable
in our own skin.

Maybe SHE wasn't
as comfortable but, you know what,

she made us feel like she was.

She showed a human dimension
that was simply marvellous -

to be so brilliant
without being robotic.

To be so technically perfect,
so athletic

and so wonderfully joyous
when she won.

And she gave sport everything,
and it is a richer sport.

And I think she enriches
everything she touches.

Thank you, girls. I passed the test?

Yeah! Yeah! When do you want
to come for the next one?

LAUGHTER

I might do that.