Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Martina Navratilova won 59 Grand Slam titles across singles and doubles during a career that spanned the 1970s and 1980s. She won the Wimbledon Women’s Singles title a record nine times. - Advertisement -After losing to Evert again in the semi-finals of the US Open, Navratilova informed US authorities that she wished to defect from her communist homeland. Following her tennis career, Navratilova became a political activist, advocating for gay and lesbian rights, animal welfare, and support for disadvantaged children. In 2008, Navratilova regained Czech citizenship while retaining her US citizenship.