NEWSWEEK: How much of dominance is a mental thing as opposed to a talent thing?
Martina Navratilova: Well, at this level, talent is a given. But I know Tiger [Woods] works harder than anyone out there, and that’s why he’s kicking butt. It’s not an accident when you hit a great shot, because you’ve done it in practice. You’ve put in the work. It doesn’t just happen. Every great shot you hit, you’ve already hit a bunch of times in practice. That’s how it works.
There are a lot of people with talent, but there are very few who are willing to really work at it. I don’t know what comes first: you become mentally tough because you’re so good, or you become good because you’re so mentally tough. But I know that it takes a lot of mental toughness to put in the work. Tiger has a bad round and he storms off to the range to hit more balls until he gets it right. I remember when he won the Masters the first time, he said that he had studied the videotapes of the old players at those holes. Because of that, he knew exactly how certain putts would break. And I remember thinking, “How many other players would do that kind of homework?” He’s probably the only one. He’s a student of the game, and he actually uses what he learns.
Were you like that?
If I played a lousy match, yeah. If something was wrong, I would go on the practice court and go hit. It wasn’t always even after a loss-it might’ve been a win [laughs]. I still wanted to work on something. If I won a match but I stunk up the joint, I would get out to a practice court and get it figured out before the next match, like Tiger does before the next round. You wanna be ready for the next time, whenever that is. And if it’s tomorrow, then you better get it done tonight.
I knew I was in better shape than anybody else. I knew, physically, that I could go longer than anybody. And when you become that good, the pressure is off in a way. Because you know you don’t have to play great tennis-or great golf, in Tiger’s case-to win. The pressure, I think, is on people when they know they have to play their very best to have a chance. When you’re kicking everyone’s butt and you know you can play average tennis and still win, the onus is on them to play their best tennis. And that’s pressure.
Joe Montana and Wayne Gretzky both say that no matter how many titles they won, they should have had one more. Do you feel that way?
[Laughs] Yes. Whenever people ask me how many Wimbledons I won, I say, “Nine, but it should’ve been 10” [laughs]. At least. Could’ve been 12. But it should’ve been 10 for sure. You always remember the one that got away.
You joke about it, but does it bug you?
No, you know what bugs me? Losing to Conchita Martinez in my last singles match. And then she never did it again. She careered out on me that day. And she never played that well again because she just doesn’t care. She hasn’t put in the work. And that’s what bugs me. I would rather have beaten her and lost to Zina Garrison because Zina was working her ass off and would’ve given anything to win. This girl took the money and ran.
Did you consciously try to use intimidation to beat your opponents?
You know, someone asked me about that yesterday. I was so oblivious to that. If anything, I was very conscious, almost too conscious, of not embarrassing my opponent.
That’s pretty intimidating, too, though, isn’t it? I mean, if you’re so good you’re at a level where-
Yeah, where you’re worried about that [laughs]. But they didn’t know that. A lot of times I wanted to joke around about something that happened on the court, but I didn’t want make it seem like I was disrespectful. So I wouldn’t. But intimidating on purpose? People thought we played all kinds of games. I was clueless.
Did players tell you things about your tactics after you retired? Like, “You would do this-and-this and that was really intimidating.”
Chris [Evert], when she retired, said, “I always knew if you were gonna play well depending on how you acted in the locker room.” I was like, “What are you talking about?” And she said, “Well, if you were talking a lot, I knew you were confident. And if you were quiet, I knew you were nervous.” I was like, “Oh, OK.” I had no idea. You know? “Thanks for telling me now” [laughs].
Evert once talked about how she never understood rooting for the underdog, because she knew how tough it was to win when you were expected to…. Do you agree?
Yup, yup. Every once in a while you root for someone who’s not supposed to be there. But I appreciate a champion. I can never root against a champion, unless it’s a team I don’t like, like Notre Dame or something [laughs]. When you’re in this position you feel like you’re not only fighting your opponent but the crowd as well. It’s just not as enjoyable. We’re never the home team, you see. Gretzky, as much as he got hell when he was away, people still respected him, and then he came home. There was no home for us. For years and years and years, I was always the away team. And you get tired of that.
Is Tiger feeling that?
I don’t think he’s feeling it yet. But eventually, it’ll happen. Absolutely.
