LAST UPDATED: December 12, 2008

12-12-08: A couple of past events
Today Martina is guest of British TV show 'Loose Women', at 12:30 p.m. on ITV 1. Maybe we'll learn something more about her experience in the jungle... In the meanwhile, I've finally updated some news and pictures concerning Martina's end-of-summer events. First, the U.S. Open, where Martina attended the Opening Ceremony at Arthur Ashe Stadium on August 25. It was a special night in New York, as the tournament celebrated its 40th Anniversary and and the first tournament of the Open Era, which was held in 1968. To honor that special moment in tennis history, it was introduced "(...) a procession of 25 past champions of the tournament including Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and her daughter Camera Ashe as well as Virginia Wade, the first women’s singles US Open champion. The Champions entered the stadium in chronological order of when they won their titles (...)" [article from the tournament official website]. On September 3 Martina defeated Jana Novotna 6-4 6-2 at the Champions Invitational! On September 4 it was time for a quick trip to Washington DC in order to take part in AARP’s 50th Anniversary celebration. It was held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall and Martina made a speech. Three days later she was in New York again to attend the women's singles final, as well as the Buzz Party before the match; according to the tournament website, "(...) a half-moon illuminated the starless New York sky and shined brightly over the red carpet outside of Arthur Ashe Stadium as social staples like Glenn Close, Natalie Portman, Alec Baldwin and Richard Branson hobnobbed with tennis icons like Patrick McEnroe and Martina Navratilova prior to the women’s final between Williams and Jankovic (...)". Btw, Serena Williams won her third U.S. Open title defeating Jelena Jankovic 6-4 7-5. Later on October 12 Martina joined Andy Roddick, Anna Kournikova, Jesse Levine and Melanie Oudinthe in Billie Jean King and Elthon John's annual charity event: the 16th Advanta WTT Smash Hits, which took place at the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center in Kennesaw, Georgia. The event raised over $400,000 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation (website here) and the Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund.
'US Open honors champions past' - U.S. Open official website
'Blasts from the past' - U.S. Open official website
'Stars walked the Red Carpet before women's final' - U.S. Open official website
Martina at 2008 U.S. Open
'AARP's 50th Anniversary Celebration' - AARP offical website
'AARP celebrates its own 50th birthday' - News Blaze
Martina at AARP's 50th anniversary celebration
2008 Advanta Smash Hits - WTT official website
Martina at 2008 Advanta WTT Smash Hits

12-07-08: Martina ended runner-up
Friday evening the public chose 26-year-old British actor Joe Swash as 'King of the Jungle'... Congratulations to Joe! But, talking as fan, I have no doubt that Martina will remain our 'Queen of the Jungle' :-)) Asked by And and Dec about the reasons that led her to enter the cast of 'I'm a Celebrity...', Martina reveals that she " (...) thought she was signing up for a camping show (...)", "(...) admitted she had no idea how gruelling life in the Australian jungle would be" and "(...) said: "I took it on by not knowing what it was! I thought I would be sleeping under the stars and earning my food, but this was such a challenge." [source: stv.tv, link here] Well, as I wrote on Andrew's message board on november 18, I was quite surprised when I get knowledge of the kind of trials and challenges the stars have to face in 'I'm a Celebrity...'. I've always thought Martina could take part in realities like our Italian 'L'isola dei famosi', which is mainly based on the 'Survivor' format and seems to suit the idea Martina had before beginning this show. Famous people there have to cope with life in a 'savage' island in Honduras (which is somehow nicer of the wet rainforest ;-). They only receive small portions of rice and some water and have to learn to fish (at some point they can win through a challenge useful objects that help fishing), eat coconuts and possibly light a fire. Their challenges are just physical exercises and there are no animals involved. There is no will to shock or disgust the public. In conclusion, I think Martina had some bad luck in picking up this kind of reality show at the beginning, BUT then she managed very well her stay there! That's something to be proud of :-) This evening we'll see the final chapter. It's "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Coming Out", at 9:00 p.m. on ITV 1: "(...) Cameras follow this year's contestants as they leave the jungle to be reunited with friends and families and return to the comforts of home. The well-known faces, who included Esther Rantzen, Robert Kilroy-Silk, Dani Behr, Simon Webbe, Martina Navratilova, Joe Swash, George Takei, Carly Zucker, Brian Paddick and Nicola McLean, talk about their time in the camp, react to the tabloids' interest in them and enjoy the luxury of the Versace hotel after enduring Bushtucker Trials" [source: itv.com, link here]. I still haven't find good articles concerning the final, so far. I don't understand the sense of titles like Mail Online's 'Martina Navratilova has to get used to being No 2 after missing out on the I'm A Celebrity title'... But I don't give up ;-)
Special section - Martina on 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'

12-03-08: Martina's final this evening at 8:30 on ITV1 :-)
Within a few hours we will know the name of this year's 'King of the Jungle'. Or, to Martina's numerous fans delight, she will be the one to get the crown of 'Queen of the Jungle'! Anyway, it's already a great news that she reached the final of this popular show... Well done, Martina! From the itv.com website: "(...) After three gruelling weeks in the steamy, insect-ridden camp in the wilds of Australia, the three surviving celebrities face a final Bushtucker Trial before the public vote decides who will be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle (...)".
So, dear UK residents and Martina fans, don't miss the show this evening, at 8:30 p.m. on ITV 1! It's also a good chance to actively support our champion ;-)

12-03-08: Martina is among the four contestants left!
The jungle is bringing out Martina's strenght, there's no doubt... They were twelve, at the beginning. Now they are four, and Martina is the only woman left in the reality show. I can't wait for reading what Martina will tell us about this experience! As far as I can learn by watching some videos and reading some articles, many different things happened in the last weeks, both inside the jungle and outside it.
We saw Martina enjoying some good moments with her campmates, sitting around the fire and sharing jokes and laughs. We saw her standing politely aside while others had arguments, but also taking position when facts needed it. It should not have been easy to balance the various situations, but mine impression is that she hasn't lost her usual fairplay :-) It also seems that she has found some good friends among the contestants and this may be a great relief. I've read of funny and embarassing anecdotes of daily life in such inhospitable nature. All sounds so humid, and rainy, and hostile, there... We've been moved by seeing Martina crying while remembering her mother (the first anniversary of her death will occur next week) as well as during the reading of letters addressed to the campmates from their families. Martina had also to face bushtacker trials. Like the Carnage challenge on november 28; she succedeed in collecting 10 stars by jumping between cars, hung from a great height... as someone said, it really was a perfect action movie scene, with a superb coreography! Or like today's 'Wash and Cry', for which poor Martina had voluntereed because of a fatal misunderstanding :-))) Bush battles are not lighter (like the terrific 'Night of the Living Bed', just the name gives me the shivers!). Outside the jungle the tabloids have not been always polite, as they remembered Martina's old and recent private love pains. Nothing new. I just can say, as fan, that I'm really proud of Martina's behavior and result so far; I hope that many other people are thinking the same, especially if they are able to vote ;-)) So, let me say, once more: Go, Martina!!

11-20-08: Martina is doing a reality show!
It sounds unbelievable, but yes, Martina is doing it! The show is called 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' and is aired by British commercial television network ITV (you'll find it on ITV1 channel from 8 to 10 p.m., and on ITV2 from 10 to 11 p.m.).
Well, on Sunday 16 Martina had been parachuted into the Australian rainforest and she's now facing the various challenges which this kind of experience may lead. Some consisting in physical exercises and requiring strenght and athleticism. Those should not be a problem for Martina (she've already won a celebrity chest game a couple of days ago). I think that the toughest challenge may be the tactical and psychological factor, due to such a forced cohabitation with heterogeneous people... You have to mantain your dignity, without resulting too much snob. And you may not have any perception of how people see you and your behaviour on the outside. This is not irrelevant, because people will vote. Also, it seems that Martina didn't watch reality shows on tv and this may be a problem, because she may have no idea of how reality show contestants can be false and mean in front of a camera and how they can play ugly to win... Let's wait and see. One, last hope: that she will not have to eat strange living animals ^_^ We have some reality shows in Italy as well, and I only watch 'L'isola dei famosi', based on the Survivor format. I simply can't bear people eating worms just for fun. I mean, if you are really starving, it's a matter of life or death and I accept it. It's a respectful law of nature, 'mors tua, vita mea'. And I somehow thank the animals for being there. Otherwise, I don't like it. That's why I warmly, warmly hope that Martina will not have to go through this!! I'll keep my fingers crossed.
I will add updated news from the show, videos and pictures in the next hours, as well as a couple of old news... Bye for now!
P.S: I noticed that Martina's ranking in the Celeb Tracker section of ITV's website is very low; let's do our part to increase it a little bit, dear Martina fans ;-) Click here to find out how this tracker works: Go to Celeb Tracker.

07-26-08: World Team Tennis
Martina's 2008 WTT season is over; she won 3 matches (2 women's doubles and 1 mixed doubles matches) and lost other 3. At the end, her team succeeded in reaching the playoff...
Special section - Martina's 2008 WTT season

07-21-08: WORLD TEAM TENNIS
Martina is now playing her 19th World Team Tennis season, for the Boston Lobsters. She already played on July 16, winning her women's doubles match with Raquel Kops-Jones 5-2, and losing 4-5 her mixed doubles match, paired with Amir Hadad. On July 19 she had the same results. This evening there's a crucial match against Newport Beach. Go, Martina!
Article - 07/16/08 - from the team's official website
Article - 07/16/08 - from the Boston Herald
Article - 07/16/08 - from the Boston Globe
Article - 07/19/08 - from the Boston Herald

07-06-08: WIMBLEDON!
Wimbledon keeps Martina quite busy, as usual, and this year was no exception! She did her commentary work for Tennis Channel but also played in the Ladies' Invitational Doubles, reaching the finals. Well done, Martina! She was paired with Helena Sukova. On July 01 they defeated Gretchen Magers and Conchita Martinez 6-4 6-3; on July 03 their opponents Annabel Croft and Jo Durie retired when Martina and Helena were leading 6-1 1-0. On July 4 they defeated Ilana Kloss and Rosalyn Nideffer 6-4 4-6 10-4 and, at the end, on July 6 they lost to Jana Novotna and Kathy Rinaldi 7-5 3-6 5-10... Through the match statistics pages you may download some moments of the match to watch! Martina also wrote some articles and was interviewed.
Match statistics - 07/01/08 - from the Wimbledon official website
Match statistics - 07/03/08 - from the Wimbledon official website
Match statistics - 07/04/08 - from the Wimbledon official website
Match statistics - 07/06/08 - from the Wimbledon official website
Interview - from the Telegraph.co
Article - from the Telegraph.co
Article by Martina - from BBC Sport
Martina at Wimbledon 2008

06-28-08: LAUREUS EVENTS AND INTERVIEWS
During Wimbledon, London hosts a couple of events organized by the Laureus World Sports Academy: the IWC Laureus Polo Cup, held at Ham Polo Club, that raises funds to support the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation Argentina (June 22), and the Laureus Annual Summer celebrations (June 28), which this year took place at the All England Championships. Martina attended both the events and also welcomed the guests at her Art Grand Slam exhibition, together with Juraj Kralik. On June 24 she did a very interesting interview on Laureus TV, talking about different subjects (Wimbledon, eastern european players, Laureus and her art); the Laureus website shows some videos as well as the complete transcript. Talking about interviews, some days before the beginning of Wimbledon, on June 14, Martina had a great interview with Ed Pilkington of The Guardian, don't miss it!
Article - 06/22/08 - from the Laureus official website
Interview - from the Laureus official website
Interview - from The Guardian
Laureus summer events in London

06-09-08: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S SPORTS HALL OF FAME INAUGURAL INDUCTION CEREMONY
In its 28th year, the annual induction ceremony for the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame finally has a "...place to call home". This proud announcement can be read inside the WSF official website... The event took place for the first time in the brand-new Billie Jean King Women's Sports Center, which is part of the Sports Museum of America (inaugurated one month ago, see article here below). All the memorabilia gathered over the past two decades have now a permanent home: the first museum dedicated to women's sports. 2008 inductees were: Algerian track star Hassiba Boulmerka, UCLA softball coach Sue Enquist, Japanese golfer Hisako Higuchi and Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller. Martina (who was inducted in 1984) and many other previously inducted member of the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame, were honored on stage. She later presented inductee Hassiba Boulmerka with her award.
Article - from the Women's Sports Foundation website
Link - Photo gallery from the Women's Sports Foundation website
Martina at the 2008 International Women's Sports Hall of Fame induction

05-30-08: NEWS FROM MARTINA'S OFFICIAL SITE
Firstly, there's a new, nice section regarding Art Grand Slam; you'll find 'Art Grand Slam in the news', with a link to an article of May 8 on The Independant, and you have the chance to watch many of Martina and Juro's works, from their collections insipred by Roland Garros, Melbourne Park, Flushing Meadows, Wimbledon and Beyond (with various art pieces). Martina had also something to say about Justine Henin's retirement, announced on May 14...
Link - 'Art Grand Slam' inside Martina's official website
Article - 'Justine's retirement', from Martina's Diary inside her official website
Article - Justine's retirement announced by The Telegraph

05-06-08: OPENING OF THE SPORTS MUSEUM OF AMERICA (SmA)
Martina and thirty other hall of fame athletes attended the special pre-opening event hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to celebrate the opening of the Sports Museum of America (SmA), scheduled on May 7; she's also a founding member of the museum's Honorary Board of Trustees. This innovative museum is located in New York, at 26 Broadway, "... in the heart of the new downtown", as we can read in the official website (it's footsteps from the Statue of Liberty Ferry, near Wall Street and the former site of the World Trade Center). It's defined as "...the nation's first and only all sports experience", and indeed it's the only multi-media museum experience dedicated to the celebration of all sports. You'll find more than 30 interactive and touch screens, original films, equipment and memorabilia, 19 themed galleries and state-of-the-art interactive technology everywhere. All major sports are represented: auto racing, baseball, basketball, bicycling, bowling, boxing, figure skating, fishing, football, golf, hockey, horse racing, lacrosse, rugby, sailing, skiing, soccer, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track & field, volleyball, wrestling... SmA is also the permanent home of the Women's Sports Foundation International Women's Sports Hall of Fame, within the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center. Martina attended the opening night gala as well.
Article - from the New York City Sports Commission website
Article - from the Women's Sports Foundation website
Link - Sports Museum of America official website
Martina at the opening of Sports Museum of America

04-10-08: MARTINA'S WTT CALENDAR
It's now official, Martina will join the Boston Lobsters also this year. She's scheduled to play on July 16 (Springfield, against Springfield Lasers), 19 (Newport, against Newport Beach Breakers) and 21 (Boston, against Newport Beach Breakers). Her fellow team players are Raquel Kops-Jones, Jan-Michael Gambill, Marie-Eve Pelletier and Amir Hadad. Check out both the WTT and Boston Lobsters official websites for the complete schedule and further news (you may also buy the tickets online)!
Link - 2008 WTT schedule from the WTT official website
Link - Boston Lobsters' official website

04-10-08: THE NEW LOOK OF MARTINA'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE!
At the beginning of this week martinanavratilova.com changed its look! It now has a new graphic and updated news... for example, we learn that Martina will be commentator for Tennis Channel during the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open: what a great news!
Link - Martina's official website has a new look

04-10-08: MARTINA AND CHRIS ON OPRAH WINFREY SHOW
On April 8 U.S. residents had the chance to watch Martina and Chris Evert talking about their rivalry and remembering facts and anecdotes behind their epic duels! They were guests on Oprah Winfrey's famous talk show, and Oprah's official website provides some excerpts of the interview, as well as some nice pictures.
Article - from the Oprah Show Archive

03-25-08: MARTINA'S EXCELLENT REPLY TO RECENT POLEMICS
Many polemics followed the news that she has regained her Czech citizenship two months ago, especially in the U.S. That's why Martina wrote a post as blogger on the internet newspaper 'The Huffington Post', as well as on her website. It's an interesting reading, and I also like the numerous comments, which give an idea of how many Americans support Martina!
Martina's article - My dual citizenship: why did the media get it so wrong?

03-15-08: DREAM MATCH 2008
Martina and Steffi Graf rolled back the years last Sunday, as they faced each other again, 14 years after their last match! The event has been called "Dream Match" and was held at the Ariake Stadium in Tokyo. The main attraction was, quite obviously, the Martina vs. Steffi match, but there also were two matches with Kimiko Date.... Here are the results:
Kimiko Date def. Martina Navratilova [8-6]
Steffi Graf def. Martina Navratilova [8-7 (10-5)]
Kimiko Date def. Steffi Graf [6-2 6-3]
It's always nice to see Martina playing here and there! It also seems that she will play in the WTT; let's wait and see, as the draft will be held in April...
Article - from The Japan Times online
Martina playing the Dream Match 2008

03-11-08: MARTINA ANNOUNCES HER REGAINED CZECH CITIZENSHIP
She made the announcement during a press conference in Tokyo, where she was preparing herself for the Dream Match against Steffi Graf (see news above). Martina pointed out that there are no political reasons behind her desire to regain her native country citizenship (which she lost in 1975 after her defection), nor has she ever thought to to give up her American citizenship... She will simply mantain a dual citizenship, as many people do around the world. Nevertheless, many Americans feel some resentment and think that Martina applied for Czech citizenship just because she doesn't agree with the actual political administration in the U.S.
Article - from the Radio Praha website
Article - from Telegraph.co
Article - from the Guardian.co
Martina's press conference in Tokyo

02-02-08: OPENING OF 'THE ELS CLUB' IN DUBAI
Last Monday, on January 28, Martina was in the United Arab Emirates to attend the opening day of Els Course at Dubai Sports City. It's a 72-par, 18-hole championship golf course designed by South African star Ernie Els and it's the newest jewel at Dubai Sports City, which is known as "...the world's first purpose-built sports city...". Martina and her fellow guests (former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel of Denmark, cricketer Andrew Flintoff of England and former captain of the World Champion South African rugby team John Smit) hit some shots and had a launch 'on the slopes', as you can see in the links below.
Article - from Rediff News
Article - from Ernie Els' official website
Diary - from Ernie Els' official website
Martina at 'The Els Club' in Dubai

02-02-08: AUSTRALIAN OPEN COMMENTARY
Martina did some excellent commentary at the Australian Open for the American cable TV Tennis Channel. The network's official website still provides a short video of outakes: they are absolutely funny!!
Video - from the Tennis Channel website

01-02-08: HOPMAN CUP
Martina is now at the Hyundai Hopman Cup XX in Perth, Western Australia. She's this year’s VIP guest of the tournament and she's also working as commentator for the Australian channel ABC (she joins Fred Stolle, Louise Pleming, Geoff Masters, Lisa McShea, Steve Robilliard, Peter Wilkins and Quentin Hull). The Hopman Cup is the official mixed teams competition of the International Tennis Federation and is considered the most prestigious invitation tennis tournament in the world. A men’s and a women’s representative are invited to represent their country and eight are the countries which compete: Serbia (Jelena Jankovic and Novak Djokovic), USA (Serena Williams and Mardy Fish), Czech Republic (Lucie Safarova and Tomas Berdych), France (Tatiana Golovin and Arnaud Clement), Argentina (Gisela Dulko and Juan Ignacio Chela), Australia (Alicia Molik and Peter Luczak), India (Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna) and Chinese Taipei (Su-Wei Hsieh and Yen-Hsun Lu). On December 31 she attended the opening of her tennis art exhibition 'Art Grand Slam'. The paintings, created by Martina and Juraj Kralik, will be displayed in the foyer of the InterContinental Perth Burswood (a luxurious hotel located near the center of the city) and in a gallery at Leederville (a suburb 3 kilometres northwest of the Central Business District of Perth) for several weeks... Martina talked about 'Art Grand Slam' and the future developments, as you can read in the second article here below. The last link you find below is the 'ABC Grandstand' blog of the tournament; scroll down the page to find some articles talking about Martina. On December 31 you find "Queens of Tennis are in the 'Dome", while on January 1st "Happy New Year Hopman Style!"; Martina took part in the New Years Eve ball aboard the 'Hopman Princess'... After the dinner (according to ABC blogger Carole Kerr the menu was "...a choice of waygu beef, salmon sashimi or szechwan soup for starters, barramundi or lamb for mains and the all important dessert - a 'caribbean inspiration' of coconut and rum mousse, nougatine sponge, soft centre passionfruit and mango served with cocoa and chilli sorbet") there was a charity auction (also including "...a Martina Navratilova and Juraj Kralik original artwork...") to raise money for 'Variety Club' and the 'Kids Tennis Foundation'.
Article - from ABC TV official website
Article - from the tournament website
Blog1 - from ABC Grandstand
Blog2 - from ABC Grandstand
Martina at the 2008 Hopman Cup XX

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