coffee table book

Martina Navratilova celebrates her 54^th birthday on October 18, 2010 and had much to be grateful for and proud of in her illustrious life so far.

One of the most courageous events in her glorious career came at the age of 18, when she defected to the United States from communist Czechoslovakia, sacrificing her family and homelife to pursue her dream of becoming the greatest woman tennis player of all-time.

Hall of Famer Jan Kodes, a mentor and former mixed doubles partner of Martina’s, along with Czech author Petr Kolar, describe the tremendous circumstances that lead up to her famous defection at the 1975 US Open in the new book JAN KODES: A JOURNEY TO GLORY FROM BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN.

The hard-cover coffee-table book, available here for $39 http://www.amazon.com/Jan-Kodes-Journey-Behind-Curtain/dp/0942257685/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287408541&sr=1-1 discusses the life and career of Kodes, the 1975 Wimbledon champion, as well as the development of Czech tennis through the years. The story behind Navratilova’s defection is excerpted here:

Wimbledon 1975. The mixed-doubles semifinal match on Centre Court between Kodes-Navratilova and Riessen-Court came to a close. The Czech team lost to the future Wimbledon champions 7:5, 0:6, 2:6.

It was a pity; we had several breakpoints on Riessen’s serve at the beginning of the third set. I just did not succeed in hitting an effective return – and that decided the outcome. It was a double pity since we would have had a good chance in the finals against Stone-Stove after Roche-King defaulted in the third round.

As they departed from the court it did not even cross Jan Kodes’ mind that it would be the last mixed doubles match with Martina.

I returned home and worked out at Sparta when Mirek Navratil approached me after a few days: “Martina is facing problems; they want to “discipline” her for having stayed in a hotel in Paris with other foreign players, and for making friends with American players. It bothers them, they constantly harass her, and they create problems around her.”

I did not pay much attention to it for I had heard much gossip and rumors during my career. However, a few days passed and they forbade Martina to travel to the United States. That angered me and I approached the CUPE chairman Antonin Himl: “Mr. Chairman, I found out that…. supposedly, Navratilova is not permitted to travel to the United States? How much truth is in that?” He started our quite calmly: “You know, I have some news here from the Tennis Federation that Navratilova is getting too Americanized and doesn’t stick to the group of our players”

Mr. Chairman, these are good for nothing statements!

I played Wimbledon with her this year; I can’t go to the US Open without her! How would I explain it there? Do I say that she has a flu and that is why she is not present? Or do I say that you did not let her go? Explain to me what sense does it make to prohibit her from entering the US Open?” He just gaped at me so I continued. “If you don’t permit her to go now she’ll defect at the next opportunity when you send her out! If you hold her back you are guilty of killing a great talent, perhaps the greatest in the world!”

He left and at that moment, I must admit, there were two things I did not surmise. First, that Antonin Himl was familiar with the letter that Antonin Bolardt had delivered to the personnel office of the Central Committee of Czechoslovak Union of Physical Education. In it he declared that “in the course of recent Wimbledon Championships he arrived at a conviction that Martina Navratilova was getting ready to emigrate and most likely would not return from her family trip around Europe.” Second, it did not even cross my mind that she would emigrate! Though, I believe, they had threatened her at home.

In 1975, Martina Navratilova entered the world tennis scene with confidence. She reached two big fi nals in Paris and Rome losing to Chris Evert and she represented the country with great success in the Federation Cup, which the Czech players won for the first time. Under the leadership of Vera Sukova, the team of Navratilova, Tomanova, and Kozeluhova gradually defeated Ireland, the Netherlands, West Germany, and France. It was Martina Navratilova and Renata Tomanova who played all the matches. In the finals against Australia they did not give away even a set to the favored Goolagong and Gourlay!

Inevitably, Martina became a target of attention and in Wimbledon reached the quarterfinals, losing to Margaret Court. She was now among the world’s top players. It was there where problems started to sprout, problems that eventually caused her flight from Czechoslovakia.

She started to entertain the idea of emigration in the autumn of 1974. She strove to become the world’s top player, she desired to live in the United States of America, and she wanted to become a US citizen. But, she hesitated too long. Each time she thought “this is the right moment to do it” she recoiled from it. The prick of conscience told her “your home is in Czechoslovakia: Revnice, Berounka, Praha…” She realized the enormous consequence of fleeing.

The comrades in the leadership of Czechoslovak athletics made the decision for her. Imposed hardships, false rumor-spreading inspired largely by Antonin Bolardt, one of the communists in then leadership of Czechoslovak tennis, impinged on her. It frightened her that she might no longer get the exit permit to the West. After the Federation Cup victory her fate was sealed. “We’ll clip Martina’s wings” proclaimed Antonin Bolardt.

Harmful gossip accelerated, intensified, and transformed into threats. “Either you follow what we dictate, or we’ll destroy you.” Vera Sukova, the national coach and a captain of the Federation Cup team realized that the situation was turning critical and with a frank chat she attempted to help Martina. She took Martina aside and explained to her how to behave in order to be left alone: “Martina, you have got to slow down or you will get yourself as well as me into trouble. Be smart, play along with us!”

Even her parents advised her to cool down. But, Martina was eighteen, she was at the brink of her world fame as a tennis player, yet, in her own motherland that she has represented so well, they were trying to squeeze her neck.

In spite of the strained atmosphere she was allowed to enter the Virginia Slims Circuit. Following her victory in Boston, she was going to fly home but, she decided to extend her stay in the United States by one more tournament on Amelia Island without informing any officials at home about it. This gave rise to a reason to “clip her wings!”

Before her final-round match, she received a telegram from the Czech Tennis Federation requesting her to return at once. She would not risk defaulting from a finals match of a world tournament. In a very nervous performance she succumbed to Chris Evert and took the next plane over the Atlantic only to be called to account in Prague. They accused her of being conceited and ordered her to associate only with the Czechs or players from other socialist countries when playing abroad.

Based on this condition she was permitted to enter Roland Garros. In Paris she shared a hotel room with Chris Evert! And on top of it she played doubles with Chris. This went round and round. Upon her return troubles continued. Before Wimbledon, after Wimbledon… She requested a permit to enter the 1975 US Open. Thanks to Jan Kodes’ and Stanislav Chvatal’s initiative there was a meeting with Antonin Himl. The debate was long; Martina could not understand why there was so much fuss when she did not intend to emigrate.

And, at that moment, that statement was true. All she wanted was to play tennis and she felt she had the right to decide where, when and with whom. Kodes and Chvatal succeeded in persuading Himl in granting the permission, though with a condition that she would return immediately thereafter. As she was departing she felt that outside forces had the power to control her ever so much more. She realized that she could not live happily in such a system that would not permit her to make her own decisions. Her final resolution ripened during her stroll with her Dad along the river Berounka on the eve of her departure to the United States. She recognized that staying under the watchful eye of the Czechoslovak athletic authorities would bring the end to her ambitions.

In 1990 Stanislav Chvatal, a Chairman of Czechoslovak Tennis Federation from 1969 to 1976, wrote: “The state of Martina’s affairs frightened me; again and again I contemplated the situation from 1949, when everything good in Czech tennis was lost in a scope of a few days and the resulting emigration of Drobny and Cernik literally erased our tennis.”

By his authority he vouched for Martina before her planned trip to the United States. “Prior to her departure I invited her to my office. We had an odd conversation. We both knew where we stood in our understanding of the circumstance. I repeated several times that she had the power to decide about her fate in her own hands now. She gave me her photograph with a dedication; it was touching. When she was gone I did not know what to think about that lapsed moment; on the other hand I sensed I knew it very well.”  Stanislav Chvatal was recalled from his post of a chairman of our Tennis Federation in 1976 and Miloslav Janovec was voted in his stead…

I did not vouch for her but I stood up for her. It was impossible to vouch for Martina or anybody else that they would not defect. But I tried to explain to Antonin Himl and others that they would not gain anything by prohibiting her to play a tournament. I tried to persuade them to allow Martina to fly to the United States…

When I heard the radio news that she announced her defection the first thing that entered my mind was to call her and discuss the issue. When I arrived at the tennis courts the next day I was told: “Don’t call her, she is gone. She does not want to talk to anybody. They grabbed her and took her god-knows-where. Perhaps to Chicago and then to Los Angeles.”

At that moment I remembered my recent conversation with Jaroslav Drobny in the Bournemouth stadium. Deep down inside I realized: I am twenty-nine and my case is different. She is only eighteen; she has her life ahead of her. I did not blame her but I did not say it out loud. I do not know how I would have answered if anybody asked me then whether I indorsed her emigration. Martina simply wanted to rule her own life. But nobody asked me so I stayed quiet. I was busy with the upcoming Davis Cup at Stvanice against Australia so, perhaps, they were afraid to ask me for that reason; they did not want to rattle things further.

Vera Sukova tried to contact Martina still in New York with the intent of changing her mind. It did not work. There was a US Open Newsletter at Forest Hills that made comments about events around the courts; they also published an article that stated: “On Sunday, an eighteen-year old Martina Navratilova announced in the middle of the championship: “I have applied for a political asylum!” Various officials from her home country accused her of being too Americanized and requested her to spend more time at home than abroad. “I realized that I would not be able to become the best player in the world if I am not allowed to play the important tournaments. That was crushing my tennis ambitions.” At the age of eighteen she is considered one of the top five players in the world. She has earned $135,000. Her emigration from Czechoslovakia does not have a political reason. “I am only concerned with my tennis career” she said. Since she comes from a communist country processing her request has been a routine job for the immigration officials. They made a statement that her visa would be extended without a problem.”

Obtaining a “Green Card” and thus legalizing her residency in the USA was a question of mere few weeks. Before the Green Card was granted Martina managed to play several tournaments in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Denver. There she came face to face with Vera Sukova, who was sent there officially from Prague to try once more to persuade Martina to return. She was accompanied by a Czechoslovak Embassy official who tried doggedly to convince Martina to come home. He promised that if she returned she would not be persecuted and that he himself would make sure that she would be treated better. All that only refreshed her memory of communist antics and that further confirmed her certainty that if she returned, more trouble would result. Her Dad’s words from their stroll along the Berounka before her departure flashed through her head: “Do not come back no matter what! They may make us beg you to return but you must not listen to us. Do not return home!”

Vera Sukova realized that nothing would change Martina’s decision. She suffered for it; she was fond of Martina. She suffered also for the reasons that authorities at home would pester her while she wanted to continue to hold a strong women’s team together. They shook hands after two hours of discussion and they parted peacefully.

Publicly, Martina Navratilova ceased to exist in Czechoslovakia. About two weeks after her announcement in New York the Czechoslovak Tennis Federation made a proclamation: “Martina Navratilova suffered a defeat in the face of our proletarian public. Czechoslovakia offered her all the means for her development but she gave preference to a doubtful career of a professional and a fat bank account.”