Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has opened up about her battle with cancer, having recently revealed she is now "cancer-free".
Navratilova was diagnosed with stage one throat and breast cancer in January, but has now revealed she is "good to go" after undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Having originally feared she "may not see next Christmas", the 18-time Grand Slam singles champion has now been cleared.
And in an emotional interview with Piers Morgan on his TalkTV show 'Piers Morgan Uncensored', Navratilova said: "You have to be in game mode and so that's where having been a champion athlete comes in pretty handy. I knew it was going to be hard but I didn't realise it was going to be as hard as it really was.
"You know I love to eat as you know we have dinner together. I love to eat and eating was the hardest part of this whole treatment. I lost 15 lbs, not because I wanted to but because I just couldn't get enough food in my body.
"The radiation, the proton therapy affects your throat and the mouth, and there is a lot going on and it started closing up. I couldn't even yawn."
During her career, Navratilova had a storied rivalry with Chris Evert, with the pair facing off 60 times in tournament finals between 1974 and 1988. Evert faced a fight of her own, having been diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2021.
Evert recently announced she was also "cancer-free" and Navratilova revealed the two former rivals supported each other throughout their battles, having both been treated in the same place. "Some of the same nurses were giving me Cisplatin and she was getting some other chemotherapy drug, but same place," Navratilova added.
"We were ringing the same bell and… And I'm like this is the kind of competition we don’t really want. But I must say Chris has been just a star.
"She has supported me so much through this as I supported her a year ago, but little did I know that it was going to be reciprocated. But she's been great.
"I know Chris never gave up playing when she was playing. I mean… Chris and I, I don't ever recall, I mean I felt sorry for myself thinking, 'Okay, I'm probably going to lose, but I've got to keep fighting until the match point is over'.
"Tennis teaches you that I think and maybe champions have that more than the player rank 200 or maybe they just can't get any better, even though they're giving everything they have, but you definitely have that mentality that I'm not quitting until the match point is finished, and you're always in the solution...
"So, tennis teaches you that and that mentality that Chris and I, I don't know if you're born with it, or if you learn it later, but you definitely, it becomes a habit."
Watch the full interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored tonight (Tuesday) on TalkTV, 8pm. Available on Sky 522, Sky Glass 508, Virgin Media 606, Freeview 237 and Freesat 217 as well as on DAB, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV Plus, YouTube, the Talk.TV website and TalkTV iOS and Android apps.
