Martina Navratilova has the distinction of being the greatest Wimbledon champion of the Open Era, winning the Ladies’ Singles Championships a record nine times, including six years running between 1982 and 1987, and twenty titles in all in SW19. Indeed, Navratilova was the dominant force in women’s tennis in the late Seventies and the Eighties, to which her career record of 59 Grand Slam titles – 18 singles, 31 doubles and 10 mixed doubles – bears testament.
Born Martina Subertova in Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, on October 18, 1956, Martina Navratilova took the feminised form of the surname of her stepfather, Miroslav Navratil, when her mother remarried in 1962. Her left-handed, serve and volley style first attracted international attention when she led Czechoslovakia to a 3-0 victory over an Australian team, which included Evonne Goolagong, in the final of the Federation Cup in 1975. That September, after reaching the semi-finals of the US Open, Navratilova requested political asylum in the United States and was granted temporary residence. She was immediately stripped of her Czech nationality – although she became a Czech citizen once again in 2008 – and became an US citizen in 1981.
Interestingly, Navratilova won just three of her 18 Grand Slam singles titles before she turned 25. Throughout the Eighties, she shared a legendary rivalry with American Chris Evert. By contrast to Navratilova, Evert was a powerful baseline player with, arguably, the best two-handed backhand in the game. Initially Evert, who excelled on clay and hardcourt, dominated their encounters, but overall Navratilova beat her 43-37 head-to-head and, crucially, 10-4 in Grand Slam finals.
Read more about Martina Navratilova here
Read more about Pelé here
Sir Anthony McCoy, who was knighted in the 2016 New Years Honours list for services to horse racing, was hailed by Racing Post journalist Alistair Down as the ‘riding phenomenon of all time’. On his retirement, in April, 2015, McCoy had ridden a total of 4,358 winners, including ten on the Flat, in Britain and Ireland and won the Jump Jockeys’ Championship in twenty consecutive seasons.
Born in Moneyglass, County Antrim on May 4, 1974, McCoy rode his first winner on British soil, Chickabiddy, trained by Gordon Edwards, at Exeter in September, 1994. Indeed, as conditional jockey to Gerard ‘Toby’ Balding, McCoy rode 74 winners in his debut season, just one short of the 75 required to ride out his claim, but more than enough to run away with the Conditional Jockeys’ Championship. In 1995/96, he won the Jump Jockeys’ Championship for the first time, making him the youngest winner since Josh Gifford in 1962/63; over the next two decades, would break every conceivable record in National Hunt racing.
In 1997, McCoy entered into an arrangement with reigning champion trainer, Martin Pipe, which allowed him to ride any of his horses at his discretion. That same year, McCoy completed the Champion Hurdle – Cheltenham Gold Cup double on Make A Stand, trained by Pipe, and Mr. Mulligan, trained by Noel Chance. In 2001/02, he rode 289 winners, beating the previous record for the most winners in a season by any jockey, Flat or National Hunt, set by Sir Gordon Richards in 1947. In 2004, McCoy became stable jockey to Jonjo O’Neill, in return for a lucrative retainer – reputedly worth £1 million a season – from leading owner John Patrick ‘J.P.’ McManus. The association famously produced a Grand National winner, Don’t Push It, in 2010, and another Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Synchronised, in 2012.