Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova Says She Is Clear Of Cancer

Martina Navratilova, who won a total of 59 Grand Slam titles across singles and doubles, revealed she is free of cancer after receiving a battery of tests at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. It is the second time she has beaten cancer.

Navratilova said in an interview in January that she was battling both throat and breast cancers, though she said the conditions were caught early.

The International Tennis Hall of Famer had noticed an enlarged lymph node in her neck in November and a biopsy revealed the early stage throat cancer.

In March after declaring she was in remission, Navratilova returned to work as a commentator for Tennis Channel.

“After a day full of tests at Sloan Kettering, I got the all clear!” the 66-year-old wrote on Twitter on Monday. “Thank you to all the doctors, nurses, proton and radiation magicians. What a relief.”

Navratilova had previously been treated for a noninvasive form of breast cancer in 2010 and had a lumpectomy.

Navratilova’s news was met with good wishes from the tennis fraternity, including former player Carla Suarez Navarro, who is also a cancer survivor.

“Fantastic news!! So happy for you, Martina!” said Suarez Navarro, who had been diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2020 and was declared cancer-free a year later.

Navratilova, who is among the greatest tennis players, won 18 major singles titles between 1978 and 1990 before retiring from singles play in 1994. She dominated women’s tennis in the 1970s and 80s along with her rival Chris Evert.

Navratilova was ranked as the world No. 1 in singles for a total of 332 weeks – second only to Steffi Graf – and for a record 237 weeks in doubles, making her the only player in history to have held the top spot in both disciplines for over 200 weeks.

Along with Margaret Court and Doris Hart, Navratilova is one of the three players to have accomplished a career Grand Slam in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, called the career “Boxed Set”.

Navratilova won her last major title, the mixed doubles crown at the 2006 U.S. Open, shortly before her 50th birthday, and 32 years after her first major title in 1974.

Off the court, the Czech-born American is well-known as an advocate for gay rights after coming out in 1981.